On the individual side, Laura Hughes of Mankato West captured the individual title after placing second last year. Hughes and Cassy Opitz (Eden Prairie) were neck and neck going into the last 800 and Hughes was able to open up a considerable margin to Opitz who finished 2nd. Coming in third was Emma Bates of Elk River and fourth went to Katie Moraczewski of White Bear Lake and rounding out the top 5 was senior Danielle Berndt of Bloomington Kennedy. Only 3 of the top 30 individuals are seniors who graduate this year.
On the boys side Rob Finnerty took the lead from the start and exactly the opposite happened as the Wayzata squad sat in the very back for the first 600 meters. Finnerty, a senior, captured his first state title in cross country after placing second as a freshman. Finnerty was in first all by himself for the whole race and won by 9 seconds over fellow senior Jordan Carlson of Rosemount. Rounding out the top 5 was Minneapolis Washburn senior Pieter Gagnon, Willmar's Mahad Hassan and Minneapolis South's Robel Kebede.
On the team side, Wayzata completely dominated the field as they placed 3 runners in the top 15 and all 5 in the top 20 for team scores. Rosemount came in second place followed by Brainerd, Stillwater, Eastview and Willmar in sixth.
The Willmar boys came into the meet hoping to surprise some teams, although it wasn't meant to be. The boys were led by Mahad Hassan who took fourth overall, second teamwise and Andrew Nicklawsky in 11th place and Mohammed Hussein in 16th place. Finishing 4th and 5th for the team were Abshir Ahmed and David Anderson. This was the final race for seniors Andrew Nicklawsky, David Anderson, Zac Coquyt and Ryan Larsen.
Mahad Hassan returns next year as the #1 returning runner and Mohammed Hussein is the #18 runner returning.
Full Results
Boys-
Girls-