Albert Lea Cross Country team competes at Austin Meet

albert lea high school – credit

(Pictured Gavin Hanke)

Comments from Co-Head Coach Jim Haney

Runner of the day boys-Gavin Hanke

Runner of the Day girls Jai Maligaya

Team place

boys-5/6

girls incomplete

Comments-For the 1st meet of the season the coaching staff is very pleased with the effort and the individual results of the Albert Lea Boys and girls CC teams. The team came into the season with high expectations of a strong finish at the section meet and the race from today proves we are a team that will contend for the section championship. We still have work to do but with the team we have this year the coaching staff is encouraged with the commitment and drive of the young men and women on the team. All the coaching staff has asked is that come October is that we have a chance to compete for the section title. The race today proves we can and we will.

Boys Race-Gavin Hanke had an outstanding race, he ran one of his best times of his career as he took 3rd place overall time 17:37. Gavin had a plan for the race and he went out and executed that plan to perfection. He has set high goals for himself and he took the 1st step in achieving these goals. He is a classic cross country runner who has tremendous heart drive to compete. The coaching staff is very proud of where he is at so early in the season.

Rounding out the top 5 were Isaiah McGaffey in 23rd place with a time of 19:21

Pacey Brekke in 31st place with a time of 19:42, Pat Holcomb in 34th place with a time of 19:55 and Luke Wangsness in 43rd with a time of 20:30. These are all outstanding times and the coaching staff looks for decreased times as we increase our training and speed later in the season. The boys came out to compete and they did and we are proud of the effort they gave.

Girls-Jai Maligaya ran an outstanding race, the coaching staff was so impressed by how she competed against some very strong competition from the big 9. Jai came in 9th place with a time of 21:55. This was one of the strongest races that Jai has run and she has done a great deal of training to get ready for the season and that training has paid off. She has a desire to compete at a high level and she is doing just that. The coaching staff looks for her continued improvement in races.

Rounding out the top runners for Albert Lea were Mya Hanke in 35th place with a time of 24:29 and Aliyah Studier in 41st place with a time of 24:49.

The gilrs ran an incomplete team as many of the younger girls ran a different race, in Oct. we look to run a full team to compete in the big 9 and the section.

Jr, High race-Albert Lea’s Ty Stout took 1st and Elle Schulz also took 1st in the Jr, high races. This was the 1st race for both runners and they were very impressive by the effort they gave.

Other Jr. high runners who did well Caden Hanke was in 3rd and Andrew Tscholl was in 5th.