Congratulations to the Junior High Boys and the rest of the team for a great showing at the Litchfield Invitational on Thursday October 2nd!
After three warm, hilly meets in Kimball, Paynesville and Willmar, the table was set for successful team and individual results in Litchfield. The rain stopped just before the meet and the temperature cooled into the low 50's making for ideal conditions on the flat and fast course.
The boys won the 12 team race with a score of 56 points, topping runner up Maple Lake by 17 points and third place Hutchinson by 24 points. Jack Grabinski led the charges with a time of 9:04 over the 2500 meter course good enough for 3rd place overall. Teammate Sam Ringger was just behind in the 4th spot at 9:06. Alex Knebel finished 11th at 9:19, Ryan Sweeney 13th at 9:22 and Dakota Johnson was 26th at 9:42. All of the other members of the Jr. High boys ran much faster than their last meet in Paynesville the week before as well!
On the individual side, 15 of the 17 high school boys ran season bests and all 18 high school girls ran season bests! Of those returning runners, 7 of the 12 returning high school boys ran career bests and 5 of the 10 returning high school girls ran career bests!
Topping the girls varsity was Julia Severson with a career best 17:10 in the 4000 meter race. Not to be outdone, three more Storm girls were in the 17's: Katelyn Scapanski with a season best 17:22, Emma Mader with a career best 17:22 and McKenzie Froiland with a career best 17:24 (her first sub 18 of her career).
On the boys varsity side, Ian Galligan blew his career PR out of the water as well, besting his prior best time of 18:24 by running a 17:42 in the 5000 meter race. (the first sub 18 for the Storm boys in many years!) Danny Sertich ran a season best 18:26 and Jaiden Pick (20:07) and Isaac Zimmerman (20:09) just missed the 20 minute barrier. The boys were less than 10 seconds from four sub 20 finishers. Here's hoping that barrier is broken at Tech or the CLC meet!
Topping the Jr. High girls was Michaela Wolf in 16th place with a 10:47 time. Taylor Rau was the top boys JV at 20:20 and Colleen Schimnich ran a 19:47 to lead the girls JV.
Congratulations to all of the runners on a real fun day at the course. Go Storm!!
