Albert Lea Boys Cross Country takes 13th place at Class AA Meet

Story from Co Head Coach Jim Haney from Saturday 11/5 State AA Cross Country Meet

Boys-13th/16

Star runner-Gavin Hanke

Comments-The Albert Lea Boys ran a great race at St. olaf.  The coaching staff was proud of the effort that the boys demonstrated at the state meet, running against the best in the state Albert Lea showed it has a very good team with a 13th place finish.  The boys ran times that were near the section times last week and they competed well during the race.

Leading the way for the tigers was Gavin Hanke with a 17th place finish at 16:18.  Gavin has led the tigers all season and he ran one of his best races in cross country.  Next was Isaiah McGaffey in 99th place at 17:33, 3rd for the tigers was Pacey Brekke in 100th place at 17:33, 4th for the tigers was Ty Stout 107th place at 17:40 and the 5th tiger was Luke Wangsness 149th place at 18:32.  It was great to see the runners pack up and push each other during the race.

The Cross country team will miss the senior leadership provided by the 6 graduating seniors; Gavin Hanke, Pacey Brekke, Luke Wangsness, Patty Holcomb, Trey Shaw and Jai Maligaya.  These seniors took the program to a new level.  Going to state in back to back is a great accomplishment and the team could not have achieved its goals without the leadership and competitive spirit of these 6 runners.  The coaching staff wishes them all the best as they move forward to the next step in their personal journey.