Jordan CC Teams Wrap Up Season with 5th and 7th Place Finishes in Section 2AA
By Ben Nylander
The Jordan cross country teams wrapped up their seasons on Thursday (10/24) with solid performances by both boys and girls teams at the Section 2AA meeet. Section 2AA is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) sections in the state.
The boys have battled St. Peter all season and edged out their rivals by 2 points to finish 5th overall with 170 points. Logan Bohlsen finished a strong season with a 22nd-place performance. A Top 15 finish was required to qualify for state individually this year. Wilson Menden had a very strong race as he followed close behind in 25th place. Domenek Williams placed 36th. Owen Dahnert was the 6th fastest freshman or younger, finishing in 38th. Finn Langheim finished top 50 with a 49th-place finish. Cullen Hyer and Charles Huesers rounded out the team with 64th and 73rd-place finishes.
Defending state champion Mankato East won the section as they edged out the top-ranked team in the state, Marshall. Also finishing ahead of the Hubmen were Belle Plaine (3rd place) and Mankato West (4th place).
The girls team beat out the Tri-City United team to finish 7th place overall in the section with 173 points. They finished within 15 points of WCC East rival Hutchinson, as 3 Jaguars ran or tied their personal record (PR).
Bianca Peterson finished the season with her strongest race of the year. She passed 5 runners in the 2nd half of the race to place 13th as she tied her personal record. Unfortunately, it took a 10th place finish in order to qualify for State this year. Bianca has been within 30 seconds of qualifying for state two years in a row. Allie Althoff ran a personal record and placed 24th overall. This was about 10 places higher than where she was seeded. Olivia Fynboh finished a strong season with a 36th place finish. Samantha Tieben ran a PR and placed several places higher than seeded as she finished 44th. Danika Barlage rounded out the scoring for the girls with a 59th place finish. Torah Barrett ended her career with a 59th place finish. Torah has had a wonderful season as she has averaged almost 4 minutes faster this year than last year! Abigail Schiffman ended with a season best performance to place 60th.
St. Peter and Marshall qualified for state and were closely followed by Mankato East and Mankato West. Belle Plaine finished 5th and Hutchinson was 6th place overall.
This post has been published with permission of Jordan Public Schools. Lightly edited for clarity and context.