ROCHESTER — The Austin boys and girls cross country teams ran in the Mayo Invitational on Thursday at the Eastwood Golf Course.
Madison Overby of Austin finished sixth and Haley Splinter was 23rd in a strong field of runners. Overby had time of 15:24.04 as the top Austin finisher on the day, and Splinter finished with a time of 16:11.19.
"Our top runners continue to run very well," Austin coach Tony Einertson said. "Madison placed sixth in a very strong field that included several ranked runners from both class A and AA. Haley finished in the top 25, so she had a good race."
Anna French of Wayzata (ranked No. 8 in Class AA) and Vivien Hett of Burnsville (No. 12, AA) were the top two finishers for the girls on the four-kilometer course. French ran away from the field, finishing in 14:14.95, while Hett — last year's Mayo Invitational champion — finished in 14:38.12.
Wayzata's six varsity runners all placed in the top 20 and the Trojans won the meet with 46 points. Runner-up Stillwater was boosted by two runners in the top 13, finishing with 141 points. Section 1A rivals La Crescent and Dover-Eyota finished third and fourth, respectively. The Lancers edged the Eagles by two points at 182-184.
ADVERTISEMENT
Rochester Century and Rochester Lourdes tied for fifth, with the Panthers winning the tie-breaker. Rochester Mayo placed 10th, Austin was 11th with 286 points, and Rochester John Marshall finished in 15th for the team standings.
Other finishers for the Austin girls included: McKenzie Besel, 75th place in a time of 17:23.02; Justice Tabor, 79th at 17:33.83; and Ochudo Cham, 107th place in 18:16.95.
• Stillwater Area won the boys race with 46 points, and Stillwater senior Wayde Hall won the individual championship. He finished in 15:52.63, which was 17 seconds ahead of runner-up Zack Benning from Hastings.
Austin finished in 13th place with 317 points. The top individual finisher for the Austin boys was Mason Wollersheim in 20th place with a time of 17:07.45.
"Mason had a great race running a career best time in the process," Einertson said. "It is now to see him working his way up to the front of the pack. Overall, I'm very happy with the progress we are making at this point in the season, but we still have a lot of work to do before the Big Nine Conference meet."
Andrew Baker of the Packers also made it into the top 25. Baker finished in 22nd place with a time of 17:13.47. Other runners for Austin were: Quin Brunner, 77th at 18:36.96; Caleb Asay, 97th in 19:10.17; Geraro Ortiz-Sandoval, 101st at 19:18.68; and Juan Rodriguez, 102nd place in a time of 19:25.39.
