By Bruce Karnick

Saturday, October 10th, the Raiders Cross Country team had their final race before Sections at the beautiful St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park. It was a beautiful sunny day, with a temperature around the mid-seventies, so it was perfect for the spectators, officials, and coaches. One would think it was perfect for the athletes too, but their sweat at the end of the races says maybe not.

First up on the five-kilometer course were the girls. Hastings Senior, Linnea Urban finished first overall with a solid performance. This is Linnea’s eighth conference title in her school athletics career. She has won back to back titles in Cross Country, three in Nordic Skiing and three is Track. Here are how the final scores ended for the teams. Henry Sibley took the Conference Championship with a score of 40. Mahtomedi was second with 45, Simley was third with 94, in fourth was Hastings and rounding out the top five was Hill-Murray with 95.

Individual places and times for Hastings Runners: 1 Linnea Urban, Grade 12 – 19:55.0 20 Skylar Little Soldier, Grade 9 23:05.5 23 Brooke Erickson, Grade – 12 23:48.0 25 Elise Atkins, Grade 9 – 24:06.5 26 Molly Caturia, Grade 10 -24:14.2 27 Emma Kelly, Grade 9 – 25:03.4 The boys compiled results went as follows. Henry Sibley took the championship here as well with a score of 41, Saint Thomas Academy second with 51, Mahtomedi third with 100, Tartan fourth with 115, Simley fifth with 121 and Hastings finished sixth with 132. Tyler Bushinski and Nolan Myers achieved All-Conference honors in Saturdays meet.

Individual places and times for Hastings Runners: 5 Tyler Bushinski, Grade 11 -17:18.2 11 Nolan Myers, Grade 12 – 18:05.2 35 Evan McGinnis, Grade 12 -19:06.8 39 Aaron Herber, Grade 10 -19:35.5 42 Alex Siebenaler, Grade 11 -19:58.6 43 Thomas Siebenaler, Grade 11 19:59.7 46 Noah Quigley, 9 – 20:28.4 The final race of the season will take place in Owatonna at Brooktree Golf Course on Thursday October 15th starting at 10:45 a.m. for the boys. The girls race is at 1:00 p.m. These races are limited for the number of athletes that can go this year due to COVID. Hastings will be bringing; Ty Bushinski, Nolan Myers, Evan Mc-Ginnis, Aaron Herber, Tom Siebenaler, Alex Siebenaler and Josiah Trost for the boys. Linnea Urban, Skylar Little Soldier, Brooke Erickson, Eve Lawson, EC Atkins, Molly Caturia and Autumn Adricula for the girls. Alternates are Emma Kelly and Noah Quigley if a selected athlete cannot compete. The selections were made based on the conference meet and previous races with a heavy emphasis on the conference meet. Good skill to all those competing at Sections this year!