On Thursday, October 25th, the Orono Cross Country team will be competing at Gale Woods for the Section 6AA meet.
Both the boys and the girls teams have a good chance of qualifying for State, but everyone’s performance is going to matter. Gale Woods is a challenging course with lots of hills and uneven footing, so watch for some unexpected results.
“I think it is going to be a really competitive race. I don’t think it’s going to be a cakewalk for any team. I think that there are going to be a lot of good runners in this race, and everyone has a chance to make an impact, so it’s going to be fun to see how things turn out. We are hoping to bring home a state appearance for Orono,” sophomore Eddie Loberg said.
The boys team has had a great season so far and is currently ranked second in the state for Class AA behind Perham. They are currently ranked first in section 6AA.
Part of this success is due to the fact that Loberg and junior Drew Gronholz are both having breakout seasons. Both of these runners now run almost a minute faster than they did last year, and it is making a huge difference in the team’s success.
“It’s amazing to compare this year to last year, the improvements made by Eddie and Drew have greatly aided each of our varsity performances, and now they have evolved into our second and fifth runners,” junior Sawyer Newell said.
The boys team recently finished second at the Metro West Conference Championship behind a very strong Chanhassen team. Loberg and Gronholz played a big part in the team’s placing, with Loberg placing 5th with a time of 16:06 and Gronholz placing 24th with a time of 17:14.
“Conference was a very challenging course, but it was fun to run in the rain. This race made me even more excited for sections,” Gronholz said.
The girls team has also had a strong season despite several of their top runners being injured. They are currently ranked third in Section 6AA and sixth in the state for Class AA. Based on current times, they are projected to be in a close battle with Delano to qualify for the state meet.
One of their top runners, sophomore Delaney Stephens, has been out for most of the season with an injury, but she is supposed to return to racing at the section meet, giving the girls team a much better shot at qualifying for state.
