East Ridge cross country: Raptors girls win St. Olaf showcase

The East Ridge girls cross country team continued its string of top finishes this fall, winning the St. Olaf High School Showcase last week.

The Raptors boys and girls, along with the Woodbury boys and girls, competed in the cross country running race at St. Olaf College on Friday, Sept. 16, in Northfield.

In addition to the East Ridge girls, the Woodbury girls finished in fourth place in the 25-team girls field and the Woodbury boys finished in eighth place, while the East Ridge boys earned 14th place in the 26-team boys race.

“We are very happy with the team at this point of the season,” East Ridge head coach Chad Cronin said. “Since this is the same course as our first meet, we saw huge improvements with the runners. We hope to see many running this course a third time this season as it is the state meet course too. It is the only course we repeat.”

As a team, the East Ridge girls finished with 101 place points and a total time of 1:18:34 in the 4K race, to edge Waseca, which had 177 points and a time of 1:20:04. Leading the way for the Raptors girls was sophomore Bailey Ness, who earned fourth place overall with a time of 15:17, followed by freshman Brenley Goertzen, who was 15th overall with a time of 15:35. Additionally, freshman Emily Betz (15:47) earned 25th place, junior Taylor Jackson (15:57) was 28th overall, and junior Elizabeth Maata rounded out the Raptors top five with a 29th place finish (15:58).

Eighth-grade phenom Lauren Smith led the way for Woodbury, which had 189 points, taking eighth place overall with a time of 15:27. Woodbury senior Darby Baranick wasn’t too far behind, earning 20th place with a time of 15:41. After Baranick, a trio of freshmen – Julia Voss, Divya Melachuri and Catherine Henning—rounded out the Royals’ top six with finishes of 38th, 60th and 63rd, respectively.

Blake’s Clare Flanagan won the race with a time of 14:53.

Junior runner Nate Roese paced the East Ridge boys, taking 15th place overall with a time of 16:55 as the Raptors had 338 points and a total time of 1:29:03. Sophomores Ryan Schiferl and Roman Faller followed Roese, taking 26th and 93rd with times of 17:05 and 18:16, respectively. Senior Thomas Ollman (18:23) took 101st place and junior Dylan Brooks (18:24) took 103rd place rounding out the Raptors’ fop five.

Woodbury sophomore Taylor Voit led the way for the eighth-place Royals with a time of 17:02, good for 24th place. Sophomore Nathan Orf (17:27) and senior Luke Wittman (17:27) followed Voit across the finish line, in 48th and 49th places, respectively. Woodbury freshman Nicholas Warham (17:43) took 58th place and senior Sam Evans (18:03) who took 81st place rounded out the Royals top five.

White Bear Lake won the boys race with 61 points and a time of 1:23:54.

Next, East Ridge will run at the Milaca Invitational at Stones Throw Golf Course, while Woodbury will compete in the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota on Saturday, Sept. 24.

Tags: cross country, east ridge, sports, prep, updates, raptors