Boys cross country: Unranked Irish prove faster than favorites
by Andy Rogers
Thisweek Newspapers
The rankings are fun to talk about, but for many coaches their biggest benefit is motivation.
The Rosemount boys cross country team started the season unranked, but the team won the Irish Invitational on Sept. 3, finishing ahead of ranked teams White Bear Lake, Lakeville North and St. Thomas Academy.
Rosemount saw its top five runners finish in the top 20. Shane McCallum placed fourth, Nathan Rock and Calvin Lehn 11th, Chandler Dye 13th, and Chris Mergens 20th.
“We had a good start to the season,” coach Chris Harder said. “The guys were in good position early in the race and then finished strong over the second half of the competition. We have a lot of work to do this season, but the home meet was a nice start.”
Apple Valley
The Eagles don’t have as many returning runners, losing their top three to graduation, but that didn’t stop the team from finishing second at the Dakota Classic in Eagan on Sept. 3.
The team’s top four runners all finished in the top 11.
“We had a strong showing with some good pack running for our one through five runners,” coach Rollie Greeno said. “It was a good opener for us, particularly with few runners who have varsity experience.”
It was a true-team effort, with the top seven runners finishing within one minute of each other.
“We had a good summer of running and we have had a good tight pack so far after Paul Frekot,” Greeno said.
Frekot led the way in seventh place. Nick Hughes, Matt Bettes and Alex Brandel finished within two seconds of one another, coming in ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively.
The Eagles will also have Michael Osterhaus, Robinson Ewald and Derek Mansur on their side this year.
Eastview
After a quick start, Eastview looks to be in the mix in the newly formed South Suburban Conference.
The Lightning finished third at the Rolf Mellby Invitational at St. Olaf College in Northfield on Sept. 3, behind Owatonna and Red Wing in the 27-team meet.
Eric Rosvold was the team’s top finisher, coming in at sixth place out of almost 700 varsity and junior varsity runners.
Ken Hoffman was 20th, David Salter 24th, Nick Oelke 36th and Dan Spika 56th.
Burnsville
The Burnsville boys cross country team has been one of the best teams in the state recently, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon.
The Blaze won the St. Catherine’s Invitational on Sept. 3 and finished sixth at a multistate invitational in Marshfield, Wis., on Sept. 4.
“The process of working hard for the entire team is there,” coach Jeff Webber said. “As a team, from the top athletes to the slower kids, they have really worked hard.”
The Blaze finished third in the Class AA state tournament last November, and several of the same runners have returned.
Leading the way is Cole O’Brien, who was the runner-up at state last year. Teammates Shane Boeser, Abdulahi Salan, Michael Bolland and Eric Lindstrom are all back after running at state last season.
Jimmy Walker, Erik Kollash, Matt Connelly and Zach Eisenbeis will help fill in for those who graduated.
“We have a strong team, but the injury bug has already hit us, so only time will tell,” Webber said.
Eagan
Eagan coach Robin Graham is predicting some of the best times ever for the Wildcats this year.
“This should be the strongest boys team that (Eagan) fans have seen in quite some time,” Graham said. “Our team is 61-strong again and has as much right to set lofty goals as any group we’ve ever had.”
Last year the team finished seventh in the Section 3AA meet, but this year has a goal of qualifying for state.
Things started about as well as they could with a win at the Dakota County Classic on Sept. 3.
Sidney Speir led the way, winning the meet. He ran the second-fastest race ever by a Wildcat and knocked 13 seconds off his previous best.
“His tactics and improved fitness pushed the area elite runners to the wire,” Graham said. “Sidney’s name belongs in any conversation about top metro runners.”
But to get to state as a team, the Wildcats will need more than Speir.
Chris Parr hopes his talents as an elite Nordic skier continue to transfer to the runner shoe for fall.
He’ll be joined by Max Feld, who went to state last year, as well as by Adam Peters, Kevin Chan, Justin Renneke, Ryan Downes, John Schultz, Jordan Pesik and a number of other athletes competing for a varsity spot.
“This team is a close team, both in friendships and in competitiveness,” Graham said. “Early-season indicators are very strong.”
Graham was particularly impressed with the team’s offseason training.
“It was clearly better than any in recent years,” Graham said. “The key to success will be a sub-30-second spread between our No. 1 runner and No. 5.”
Andy Rogers is at
andy.rogers@ecm-inc.com.





