Tiger Cross Country Competes at Conference Meet, Hanke and McGaffey earn All Conference Honors

Pictured Gavin Hanke earned All-Conference honors finishing the boys 5000 meter race in 10th place with a time of 16:38.

Big Nine Conference meet in Owatonna from Tuesday October 18th (Story by Jim Haney)

Boys were 5th out of 12

Girls were 12 out of 12

Comments-The Albert Lea Cross Country team competed in the Big 9 meet and were happy with the results.   The team used the big 9 meet as a tune up for the section meet next week.  We are running well and we feel confident that we will run our best meet of the year next week.

Boys-We have 2 all conference runners Gavin Hanke-10th place at 16:38 and Isaiah McGaffey in 16th place at 17:00.  Gavin and Isaiah were phenomenal down the stretch of the race, Gavin held off a number of competitors and Isaiah passed at least 6 runners at the end of the race.  Both boys are great competitors and they are both deserving of the all conference honor.  Coming in 3rd for the boys was Ty Stout in 34th place at 17:27, Pacey Brekke was 4th on the team in 36th place at 17:28 and the 5th runner was Luke Wangsness in 39th place at 17:35.  Our 3, 4 and 5 runners did a great job of packing up and pushing the pace at the end of the race.  The boys are confident that they will be able to do this next week at the section meet.

Girls-The girls did a great job.  They ran very well and took 12th place.  The great thing about the girls is that they have improved so much.  We have a number of young runners who are learning how to run a varsity race.  They will continue to improve each race they run in and the coaching staff looks for more improvement at the section meet.  Leading the way for the girls was Elle Schulz in38th pace at 20:55, 2nd for the girls was Jai Maligaya 44th at 21:15 3rd for the tigers was Maya Hanke 59th place at 22:01, 4th was Alizay Kratz in 62nd 22:18 and in 5th was Lola Hansen in 72 nd at 23:02.  The coaching staff is proud of all the personal best times at the right time of the season.  The girls are ready for the section meet and look forward to the challenge.

Isaiah McGaffey earned All-Conference honors finishing the boys 5000 meter race in 16th place with a time of 17:00