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Monday, November 6, 2006
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Foster makes his mark STATE CROSS COUNTRY CLASS 1A Sports Editor NORTHFIELD - If Clayton Foster can cut his finish in half again next year he will be the state champion.
In 2005, the Pequot Lakes Patriots runner placed 53rd in his first appearance at the Class 1A state cross country meet.
On Saturday at St. Olaf College the sophomore moved up 27 places to finish 26th, missing by one place all-state distinction.
Foster completed the 5,000-meter course in 16:52.8. His finish was the highest in the history of the Patriots' program.
"From last year I knew it's a tough race at the start," Foster said, "so I paced myself a little easier at the start. Then, I felt good for a while. Once I got toward the last mile I caught my second wind and brought it in pretty fast."
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Pequot Lakes' Clayton Foster finished 26th in the Class 1A boys' state cross country meet Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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Foster's finish was witnessed by many teammates, who with a third-place finish in the section just missed joining him at state.
"They want to get down here," Patriots coach Jon Dale said. "I think Clayton would rather see our team go than himself. He's really unselfish.
"I think this will help motivate the whole team. Obviously, Clayton hopefully will keep moving up. Maybe he will be top 10 next year. That would be a goal."
Crosby-Ironton junior Peter Vukelich bettered his 2005 finish by 19 places, finishing 31st at 17:00.2. Vukelich credited advice from former Rangers coach Roger Twigg, who has been mentoring first-year C-I coach Kristine Anderson this season, for improving his finish.
"Mr. Twigg told me to stay back about the first mile and a half, then through the soccer fields start picking it up," Vukelich said. "That's what I did. I started going on the back part of the course, toward the hill, so I was up there. I could see the leaders."
Pierz's Steven Gall, 57th last year, finished 45th on Saturday. Wadena-Deer Creek's Cory Asfeld, a first-time state qualifier, placed 103rd.
In team competition, the Staples-Motley Cardinals finished 14th. Josiah Fuhrman was the Cardinals' fastest finisher, in 66th place.
Class 1A boys
Highlights: Clayton Foster of Pequot Lakes was the top lakes area finisher in 26th place, missing all-state distinction by one place.
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"I just felt pain the whole race," Josiah Fuhrman said, "but I just thought I would give it hell, what the heck."
Jordan Bendson was 70th and Josh Ulring 79th to round out the Cardinals' top three.
"I thought Josiah, Jordan and Josh ran very good races," Cardinals coach Bruce Fuhrman said. "That's about where we've been running all year. We didn't finish as strong as we thought we could but we were still consistent.
"It was probably a little better than we did at the section. Not to finish like we did last year (last at state) was a lot better."
The Cardinals will return five of their top seven state runners next season.
"We have a very young team, a very deep team," Bruce Fuhrman said. "We have about 16 runners. We've never had those numbers before. We should be very strong next year."
Class 1A boys' team scores: 1-Perham 71, 2-Minnehaha Academy 165, 3-Adrian 172, 4-Pine City 181, 5-Fairmont 194, 6-St. Cloud Cathedral 198, 7-Watertown-Mayer 199, 8-Mora 209, 9-Rochester Lourdes 220, 10-Redwood Valley 228, 11-Winona Cotter 237, 12-Warroad 248, 13-St. James 266, 14-Staples-Motley 266, 15-Eveleth-Gilbert 274, 16-Montevideo 277
Individual champion: Kevin Lachowitzer (Perham) 15:54.9
Pequot Lakes: 26-Clayton Foster 16:52.8
Crosby-Ironton: 31-Peter Vukelich 17:00.2
Pierz: 45-Steven Gall 17:09.0
Wadena-Deer Creek: 103-Cory Asfeld 18:05.1
Staples-Motley: 66-Josiah Fuhrman 17:23.2, 70-Jordan Bendson 17:26.9, 79-Josh Ulring 17:31.6, 119-Nick Waverek 18:21.9, 132-Josh Freese 18:32.7, 133-Aleksis Kincaid 18:32.9, 137-Derek Cleveland 18:48.0
MIKE BIALKA can be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861
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