I think overall we ran our best on both the boys and girls side. It is awesome to run our best of the season as the last one which is what you want.”

Head Coach Joe Rabaey

The meet is Saturday, Nov. 4 with the boys running at 10:00 a.m. and the girls following at 10:45 a.m.

Tickets for the event are $13 for adults and $8 for students. Tickets need to be purchased on www.mshsl.org.

Linnea Ronning finished fifth overall to secure her second trip to the state meet in two years.

The Hastings Raiders Cross Country team participated in the Section 3AAA meet on Oct. 26 at Valleywood Golf Course in Apple Valley. The boys took to the course first, finishing with a team score of 149 and a fifth-place finish. The girls ran second, finishing with a team score of 128 and also finishing in fifth place. Linnea Ronning finished fifth overall to secure her second trip to the state meet in two years.

The way Cross Country State qualifying works is a bit odd to those outside of the running circle. The top two teams overall send seven runners each and then the top six runners not part of the two winning teams also qualify for a total of 20 runners from the section. This is an important part of what is about to be written, Hastings had three runners miss the state cut off by less than 20 seconds.

The region had received a lot of rain leading up to the day of the race including the morning of the race. The ground was overly saturated all over the course with many puddles. The spongy, wet ground was even holding water on the hills.

“A rainy, muddy course is always fun, and anything can happen when it gets sloppy. Your times aren't going to be the best but honestly, they all ran so well. We even had some PRs in the mud. I think overall we ran our best on both the boys and girls side. It is awesome to run our best of the season as the last one which is what you want,” said head coach Joe Rabaey.

The boys ran at 11:30 a.m., ranking fifth overall with a team score of 141. Bloomington Jefferson won the team section title with 26 points and Rosemount claimed the section runner-up spot with a score of 41. That means the top six runners not part of Jefferson or Rosemount also qualify for the State Meet.

The final boys individual qualifying spot went to Burnsville’s Quinn Hess who finished in 16th place with a time of 16:44.10. The Raiders Tristan Herbst finished 18th with a time of 16:48.40. The 17th place runner was from Rosemount, so his place did not affect Herbst. Herbst finished 4.11 seconds from qualifying for the State Meet.

Aiden Stotz finished 22nd with a time of 17:01.00, just 16.31 seconds from State Meet qualification.

Boys results (place, name, team points, time)

INSERT BOYS RESULTS GRAPHIC HERE

The girls followed the boys at 12:15 p.m. for their start time and Hastings finished fifth overall with a score of 128. Eagan took home the section title with 45 points and Eastview was the runner-up with 54 points, which means the top six runners not part of Eagan or Eastview also qualified for the State Meet.

Linnea Ronning was the fifth fastest runner of the meet, locking in her second trip to State with a time of 19:12.9. Following the result down the list the next fastest runner for Hastings was Ivy Brandenburg who finished 15th overall with a time of 20:32.40. 15th overall in the section is a great spot to be in and should give her a great chance to go to State. The heartbreaker was too many individuals not part of Eagan or Eastview finished ahead of her. In fact, six individuals finished in front of Brandenburg keeping her from state by 19.5 seconds. Megan Schrooten of Bloomington Jefferson finished 11th overall with a time of 20:12.90 and she was the sixth individual to finish.

Girls results (place, name, team points, time)

INSERT GIRLS RESULTS GRAPHIC HERE

“It’s tough to be so close, especially on the boy’s side to have a couple close so it's a bummer when you are on the wrong side of the cut off. But Tristan had a really awesome race and to be one spot out of state as a sophomore, he should be super proud of that. On the girls side, Ivy had a really massive day to unexpectedly put her in that situation which is really awesome. It is sad that she ended up one spot short because it would have been amazing to have two girls qualify. It was an amazing race by her to put her in the spot plus a big personal record on a sloppy course,” Rabaey said.

This year’s State Meet will be new for everyone. Held for a long time previously at St. Olaf in Northfield, the meet has moved to Falcon Heights at the U of M’s Les Bolstad golf course. The meet is Saturday, Nov. 4 with the boys running at 10:00 a.m. and the girls following at 10:45 a.m.

Tickets for the event are $13 for adults and $8 for students. Tickets need to be purchased on www.mshsl.org.