Fair / 63° F
Perham cross country returns to state
Published 9:49am Monday, October 29, 2012BAGLEY — It was no surprise to many teams in the Section 8A meet when the defending champion Perham Yellowjacket cross country teams came out and ran a great race despite the weather conditions — They had done this before.
After both the boys and girls races had ended, head coach Jeff Morris and the Yellowjackets would celebrate a decade of dominance at the meet winning the boys section title for the 11th straight time and the girls took home their 10th title in a row.
The No. 1 nationally ranked boys, for small schools, saw Keeghan Hurley breeze past the competition to claim his first section individual title with a time of 15:57.
Teammates Brady Speicher (second) and Billy Beseman (third running 16:12 and 16:15 respectively.
Perham also saw runners Jayden Cullen (fifth, 16:30), Nick Carignan (sixth, 16:44), Dalton Dahms (seventh, 16:55) and Ben Sullivan (11th, 17:05) place in the top 11.
Each runner received All-Section honors.
“We are super excited about the boys,” Perham coach Jeff Morris said. “They have worked so hard starting all the way back in June and are ready to compete.”
In the girls race, Brynnan Covington led the Yellowjackets with a third place finish with a time of 15:50. Teammates Sydney Karels (sixth, 15:55), Ciarrin Covington (11th, 16:11) and Lizzie Fudge (13th, 16:18), along with Covington, earned All-Section honors.
Mary Riestenberg (20th, 16:42), Maren Anderson (22nd, 16:54) and Racole Karles (27th, 17:01) rounded out the section champs at the meet.
“The coaching staff looks at how these girls have progressed and we really believe they can run with anyone in the state right now, so we just have to focus on running what we know we are capable of and be ready to mix it up,” added Morris.
Bsesman, Carignan, Speicher, Sullivan, Fudge, and Ciarrin Covington also earned Academic All-State honors today which requires a top 15 finish in the section and a G.P.A of 3.75 or higher. Also coach of the year honors on the boys side went to Coach Jeff Morris, while assistant coach of the year for the section went to Coach Kay Morris.
The Yellowjackets will now travel to St. Olaf College in Northfield Saturday for the State Class A Cross Country meet.
The boys will race at 10 a.m., while the girls will follow at 11 a.m.
