The Wadena-Deer Creek boys cross country running team entered the annual Harrier Classic with a different plan on Oct. 5 at Arvig Park in Perham, Minn. The Wolverines wanted to push the pace compared to past meets and they found success with their plan.
The Wolverines finished 13th overall in the field of 25 teams. Wadena-Deer Creek was the fourth finishing Class A team and the second team to cross the line from Section 8A, behind Perham.
“We stacked the shoot pretty deep. We had a lot of runners and we had some foreign exchange students run their first race today,” Wadena-DC head coach Michael Brunsberg said. “We had a goal for our top guys to go out even quicker than they have before. We want them to keep climbing that ladder of progress and the execution was pretty good on that. It led to a pretty good finish and I’m pleased.”
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Bemidji won the meet, finishing with 66 points. Perham was second with 92 points. Moorhead came in third, followed by Fargo North and Lakeville South in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
It was a fast and competitive race with Fargo North’s Alex Luz edging Fargo South’s Muqsen Hussein at the line. Luz finished with a time of 16 minutes and 7.30 seconds, while Hussein came in with a time of 16:07.80. West Central’s Jacob Bright finished third with a time of 16:16.05.
The Wolverines were led by senior Noah Ross. He finished the race with a time of 17:09.55, which put him in the top 25. He finished 24th overall, while setting a personal record for the Harrier Classic.
“Noah is Mr. Consistent. We want to pace off of him because he is not going to go out too fast or too slow,” Brunsberg said. “He listens to his body and works really hard at practice. He did a little offseason training and he is awfully competitive. We love the fact that he is a three-sport athlete. He is a diversified athlete and likes to mix it up with competitors and see where he falls. He was smiling at the end of today’s race, which makes me smile, too.”
Bereket Loer was the second Wadena-DC runner across the line. He finished with a time of 17:31.62 for 47th place. Lucas Hinojos came in 79th place, finishing with a time of 18:11.19.
Jason Young came in 88th place overall. He closed out with a time of 18:24.30. Isaac Ries came in 113th place with a time of 19:01.19. Joshua Tabery ended the day with a time of 19:36.94 for 140th place. Tony Kreklau rounded out the varsity field, finishing with a time of 19;39.07 for 141st place.
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Loer, Hinojos, Ries and Tabery all set Harrier Classic personal records with their times during the invitational.
The Wolverines continue their busy week when they travel to Duluth’s Enger Park Golf Course on Oct. 7 to compete in the annual Swain Invitational.
