Cole Hanson, Sophia Streit lead Fairmont in I-90 Invite
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FAIRMONT - The biggest challenge Fairmont cross country head coach Andrew Moeller laid out for his program heading into Thursday's I-90 Invite went beyond the final team results. He wanted to see his athletes push themselves in the upcoming 5,000-meter race. The Big South Conference and MSHSL Section 2AA Championship meets are right around the corner. Now is the time to see one’s true potential.
Despite both teams placing second behind Luverne, with the boys picking up 78 points and the girls notching 59, Fairmont's headman got what he asked for. Several runners finished with either a new season or personal best. A few runners simply ran one of their better races in recent history. Fairmont has one last regular season meet next Tuesday in Jordan. Moeller wants to continue seeing his team ramp up this same intensity before postseason play begins.
"What I have been telling them is that this is one of our last big opportunities to take that chance and put yourself into a more vulnerable position than you typically would," Moeller said. "For the most part, I thought we did a good job of that today. Now it's just about getting them that groove, continuing to show up every day, making the most of it and preparing for those postseason races."
Fairmont girls
Martin County West/Butterfield-Odin's Evelynn Christenson took home first place with a fantastic run time of 20:40.7. The two-time state meet participant outpaced the rest of the competition by 15 seconds or more. Trailing Christenson were two runners who have been working in lockstep lately.
Sophia Streit and Brooklyn Stone ran a majority of the race side by side. Streit (20:55.4) made the final push to earn second place. Stone (20:56.4) finished right behind her in third. It was the third straight race the duo has finished in back-to-back placements.
"That's just been pretty standard for them over the last few weeks here. This is the second time Sophia has been the top [finisher] on the team, so they're kind of flipping back and forth now with who takes that top spot," Moeller said. "But both of them know that they are only better because of the other person. It's really been one of my highlights of the season so far. Just seeing the way they work together so well and so consistently."
Ellie Drever (22:15.2) finished ninth after outpacing Luverne's Emary Zwaan. Nallely Ortiz Hernandez (23:46.0) raced her first 5,000-meter competition of the season and placed 22nd. Addison Lintelman (23:46.5) was right behind Hernandez and nabbed 23rd.
"All of the top five girls ran a personal record today, which is obviously a good thing to see," Moeller said. "I have to give them credit for that. For putting themselves out there and taking a chance."
Fairmont boys
Cole Hanson repeated what he's been doing all season long. It was another first-place masterclass from the freshman, who finished with a time of 17:08.8 and beat Luverne's Marcus Papik by 17 seconds.
Cole Hanson has now gotten first place in five meets this year. The only Minnesota-based competition he didn't place first was during September 24th's JCC Tri For Health. There, Cole Hanson finished second behind Enzo Gazzola from St. Peter. Moeller said he's excited to see how his top boys runner can compete with the tougher opponents in upcoming conference and section meets.
Devin Hanson had a season-best showing. His time of 18:20.1 was good for eighth place behind Madelia's Caleb DeCann. It was his best race since the Nike Heartland Preview on September 12th.
"Devin had a really good race," Moeller said. "It was nice to see him take advantage and get some positive momentum right there. I was really happy to see that."
Michael Hamlet (18:51.4) got 12th, running his first sub-19-minute 5,000-meter race since early September. Isaac Laidig (20:31.5) also ran one of his better races in the last few competitions and placed 26th.
Moeller had seventh graders Nolan Harris (21:06.0) and Asher Oskerson (21:22.2) race their first varsity competition of the season. Harris finished 31st, and Oskerson got 32nd. It was another result Moeller was happy to see.
"I asked for them to step up as seventh graders into the high school race and see what they could do," Moeller said. "I thought they handled that really well. It was exciting to see them have a score in that group between the two of them."
MCW/BO
Kate Swanson was the second MCW/BO girls finisher. Her time of 24:15.0 was good for 26th place. Elena De La Torre (26:23.9) finished in 45th, while Sydni Fritz (27:08.2) placed 48th. Reese Peters (33:09.1) rounded off the Maverick runners and notched 59th. MCW/BO girls finished tied for fifth place with a team score of 179.
The Maverick boys finished in third with 87 points. Brody Cook laced the top-10 and got ninth with a time of 18:34.4. Marek Mulder (19:10.3) got 14th. Elliot Reynolds (19:40.8), Henry Fuller (19:51.3), and Conrad Gwin finished 19th, 21st, and 24th, respectively.