Cyclones and Vikings perform at Cyclone Invite Saturday
Saturday morning, the HCHS Cyclones girls cross country team took another first place finish at the Harlan Golf & Country Club, finishing two points ahead of Lewis Central and three ahead of Glenwood.
“It was awesome,” said Cyclone Head Coach Zach Klaassen. “We love hosting. We knew going into it, it was going to be a three-team race. Everybody had a job, and I thought everybody did a good job of executing that for the most part. When it comes down to three points separating first and third, a lot of things have to go right, and I thought we did a good job of that.”
On the boys side they took a 13th place finish as a team. Erik Heslink and Jeffrey Gross set the tone with Heslink running 18:30.65 finishing 25th overall, and Gross right behind him at 26th with 18:33.39.
“I think they’re getting better each time they go out,” Klaassen said. “Jeffrey has been battling some injuries too, and Erik with his health, and you can tell they are both getting better with each race, so hopefully in a couple of weeks, they’ll be back to about 100%.”
For the girls, Lindsey Sonderman was the fastest Cyclone finishing with 18:27.11, just 11 seconds behind the winner, Lili Denton of St. Albert.
“She [Denton] got out really fast, so that scared me in the beginning,” Sonderman said. “Eventually I edged up to her a little bit, and I was just trying to not be on her heels because I thought that would make her go even faster. Hopefully I can keep making that gap smaller and smaller.”
With six events into the season, Sonderman has either won or taken second place, finishing second every time behind Denton. She took an opportunity to reflect on how she feels she’s performing to this point in the season.
“I’m really thankful for the Harlan program,” she said. “They’ve taught me a lot and just helped me to improve every year which sometimes can be rare with high school girls, so I’m really appreciative for all the information I’ve learned from this program, and I’m just thankful I get to race with this team.”
For the Vikings, they had just four girls competing in Makenna Paulsen, Ava Paulsen, Yana Lander, and Emery Brockhoff. Makenna Paulsen set the tone taking 46th with 24:14.04 and Ava Paulsen coming in 50th with 24:33.33.
“I liked that they pushed themselves despite it not being their best day of running,” said Viking Head Coach Jackson Renberg. “They both finished in the top half of the race and ran solid times. However, not struggled with breathing because of allergies. They pushed through and did a fine job of working hard on the hills. I think cross country is one of those sports where when you have illnesses and allergies it can definitely affect them, but they did a good job of competing and doing the best they had on that day of the race. In the grand scheme of things they got better and they will be better the next time they go out there to compete at IKM-Manning.”
Lander wasn’t terribly far behind the Paulsen sisters with 24:38.21 finishing 53rd. Freshman Emery Brockhoff came in 88th with 27:39.22.
“I think Yana has made huge strides since the start of practice,” Renberg said. “I think she is gradually putting in the miles and work and it has shown through her growth the last few meets. I like Emery and her attitude and perseverance. She has been sick and has had some calf problems, but she always comes to practice with a positive attitude and works hard to get better. Her times have not reflected what she can do as a runner, but I think in the next few weeks we will see what Emery as she gets healthier showing she is a very good runner.”
The Cyclones will return to action Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Majectic Hills Golf Course competing against 13 others schools. The Vikings will be back Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Manilla Manning Golf Course where they will be one of 12 schools in attendance.