“The boys noticed the difference and said they felt the increase in competition,” said Ashby-Brandon-Evansville Head Coach Robert Bosma. “Long Prairie has a tough, hilly course. The final hill they runners face definitely separated the competitors from runners. With this, many of the times throughout the race were not the best, but the competition was still top notch. Many of our guys ran terrific races and their strategy was exactly like we discussed. They took advantage of the tough course by using hills how we want them to.”

Bosma went on to highlight the performance of his runners saying, “Hunter Norby had a Melrose runner race him up that final hill and it came to a sprint finish, something he has not had to do all year. Though Tyler beat him at the end, Hunter’s determination was evident. It was fun to see that type of race and how he gave the effort even though he was running on fumes.  Many of the other runners had similar finishes. Wesley Siira, Jaiden Hoidahl, and Jacob Cook all made up ground on other runners with that final hill. They seemed ready for it and it didn’t stop them mentally.  Micah Fossell and Matson Hoff each were able to maintain contact with a group and push with those runners. They seemed to know when to attack and push to pass runners and when they should sit back and let the other runners set the pace.  Logan Froemming has been dealing with an injury the last two weeks. It seemed to bother him at the beginning of the race but he was able to overcome it and still run a solid race.  Overall, this was a great night for us. Last year, we finished 19th at Sections, so coming in at 6th was huge for our guys and our program. I just hope we can take this momentum and push it to next year.”

Staples-Motley won the team title with 38 points, two in front of West Central Area (40).  New London-Spicer was a distant third with 132.  They were followed by Litchfield (209), Holdingford (226), Ashby-Brandon-Evansville (236), Ottertail Central (256), Parkers Prairie (266), Minnewaska Area (318), Bertha-Hewitt (336), Osakis (340) and Breckenridge/Wahpeton (341).  Sauk Centre (346) was thirteenth, then Melrose (350), Benson/KMS (356), Royalton (361), Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball (374), Albany (405), Border West (441), St. John’s Prep (470), Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (521), Pierz (635), Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (664) and Pillager (757).

Here are the individual results by team:
Staples-Motley
1. Emmet Anderson 15:51.1, 5. Issiah Tabatt 16:59.4, 9. Lyle Brownell 17:32.0, 10, Logan Robben 17:33.3, 13. Luke Brownell 18:00.3, 18. Tanner Robben 18:15.7, 19. Grant Johnson 18:22.4

West Central Area
2. Kade Runge 16:55.4, 3. Kyle Schill 16:56.7, 8. Alex Salwasser 17:07.8, 11. Shad Swanson 17:44.9, 16. Reubens Swanson 18:11.6, 32. Peyton Hanson 18:52.1, 40. Roman Mihailovschi 19:08.4

Ashby-Brandon-Evansville
24. Hunter Norby 18:33.2, 42. Wesley Siira 19:14.0, 49. Micah Fossell 19:20.4, 52. Jaydon Hoidahl 19:27.9, Matson Hoff 19:55.3, 80. Logan Froemming 20:08.2, 98. Jacob Cook 20:30.7

Ottertail Central
29. Isaac Scherfenberg 18:44.6, 39. Blake Alonzo 19:05.5, 60. Kale Misegades 19:38.7, 63. Peter Newark 19:45.0, 65. Nick Carter 19:51.2, 86. Isaac Hallberg 20:16.5, 97. Noah Mansker 20:30.3

Breckenridge-Wahpeton
14. Aidan Ruddy 18:04.5, 45. Francisco Perez 19:16.3, 61. Luke Baumgardner 19:42.9, 105. Logan Mamenga 20:41.0, 118. Deven Demert 21:05.0, 131. Bryce Awender 21:29.7, 134. Gus Lasch 21:37.3

Parkers Prairie
6. Johnathan Suchy 17:03.5, 12. James Suchy 17:54.7, 72. Cole Steele 19:56.7, 83. Jason Koehn 20:09.1, 95. Justin Koehn 20:29.7, 150. Isaac Grabow 22:32.7

Bertha-Hewitt
22. Brady Rach 18:28.5, 56. Chris Blashack 19:30.3, 77. Preston Miller 20:03.9, 91. Aden Rach 20:21.2, 93. Zach Baumgartner 20:23.8, 94.IsaacBlashack 20:27.8, 152. Ryan Knoll 22:40.2

Border West
23. Joe Arens 18:32.1, 51. Derek Lupkes 19:24.1, 110. Cole Sykora 20:45.4, 128. Conner Goodhart 21:28.8, 132. Eli Larson 21:36.7, 137. Andrew Stueve 21:46.0, 142. Jens Jorgenson 22:02.9

Pillager
135. Jacob Hooge 21:39.2, 151. Gunnar Casuse 22:39.1, 158. Gabe Grimsley 23:43.4, 160. Micah Moyer 24:08.5, 162. Brenden Brichacek 25:10.1, 166. Jayde Jordahl 26:18.6

Hillcrest
69. Noah Brumfield 19:54.6, 149. Rye Frobish 22:23.8, 164. Simon Carlson 26:06.8

The girls run their 6A meet on Thursday at the Little Crow Golf Course on Thursday.