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Monday, November 6, 2006
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S-M girls place fifth STATE CROSS COUNTRY CLASS 1A Sports Writer NORTHFIELD - The Staples-Motley Cardinals girls' cross country team opened the season not realizing how good it was.
It finished the season with a pretty good idea.
The seventh-ranked Cardinals finished fifth in the Class 1A state meet Saturday at St. Olaf College with 151 points. S-M finished behind defending champion Adrian, which won the meet with 60 points. Blake was second with 75, Rochester Lourdes third with 140 and Perham fourth with 148.
S-M was paced by Naomi Landecker who finished fourth. Natasha Wenzel was 19th. Emma Pogreba placed 59th followed by Kaytlin Roth in 62nd.
"The season started out not really how we would have wanted it," said Wenzel. "A lot of the girls moved up toward the end of the season. We had young girls so we didn't know exactly how to run.
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Staples-Motley's Naomi Landecker finished fourth in the Class 1A girls' state cross country meet Saturday at St. Olaf College. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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"We didn't think we could be up there because we were so young. It took a while to get the girls to realize they can be up there and once they realized that, halfway through the season we started moving up."
Landecker's fourth place was an improvement on her 26th-place finish last year. The eighth-ranked sophomore finished in 15:00.9.
"This year I was injury free and I was feeling great," said Landecker. "It was a different scenario because our team was all new. Going out there as a captain and a leader I had to step to the plate and push myself every minute of the race."
Landecker was in third place after the one-mile mark and maintained it until 800 meters remained. Near the finish, Paynesville's Linda Keller snuck past Landecker for third.
"At the beginning I just kind of took off," said Landecker. "Natasha ran up to me and said, 'Naomi, Rachel (Amiot) fell in the beginning so we need to step it up.' She said that out loud during the race and unless it's something important you don't say something during the race. So I knew right away that I needed to go.
"When I got up there in the top I just told myself to hold on."
Wenzel finished at 15:36.8 and in 19th place, good for all-state honors.
"My goal has always been to get top eight, but the competition each year is new so you can never really gauge it," said Wenzel.
Pogreba finished in 16:12.1. Roth crossed the line in 16:16.2 followed by Crosby-Ironton's Stacey Gustafson, who was 63rd.
Class 1A girls
Cardinals crusade: Staples-Motley finished fifth and Naomi Landecker and Natasha Wenzel each earned all-state honors.
Ranger results: Stacey Gustafson improved on last year's finish, placing 63rd.
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"That first mile everyone went out fast," said Gustafson. "Then, as soon as we got to the mile marker, they started slowing down and I felt pretty good until we got to the hills. Then everyone started going again.
"With 800 meters to go I was just trying to make sure nobody passed me and tried to stay ahead of the pack that I was in."
Gustafson wanted a top-50 finish but said she wasn't used to the warmer weather. She said she's a better cold-weather runner and the higher humidity affected her.
"This was a good meet, but not as good as I wanted it to be," said Gustafson, who finished 75th last year. "The last two years I've improved every year so I just hope to keep improving."
S-M's Amiot placed 74th, Ashlee Carlson 115th and Emily Fuhrman 142nd.
Girls' team scores: 1-Adrian 60, 2-Blake 75, 3-Rochester Lourdes 140, 4-Perham 148, 5-Staples-Motley 151, 6-Lac Qui Parle Valley 161, 7-Fairmont 180, 8-Providence Academy 183, 9-Mountain Lake 232, 10-East Grand Forks 245, 11-Mora 256, 12-Esko 267, 13-LaCrescent, 14-Ely 296, 15-Blue Earth Area 318, 16-Albany 388
Individual winner: Nikki Swenson (Lac Qui Parle Valley) 14:23.6
Crosby-Ironton results: 63-Stacey Gustafson 16:16.3
Staples-Motley results: 4-Naomi Landecker 15:00.9, 19-Natasha Wenzel 15:36.8, 59-Emma Pogreba 16:12.1, 62-Kaytlin Roth 16:16.2, 74-Rachel Amiot 16:23.9, 115-Ashlee Carlson 16:53.5, 142-Emily Fuhrman 17:39.1
Jeremy Millsop, sports writer, can be reached at 855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com
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