Boys run 3rd at Cedar Lake

The New Prague Trojan boys cross country team had a good day on their new home course at Cedar Lake Farm Regional Park Tuesday, Sept. 24. The Trojans hosted 10 other teams for the New Prague Invitational and placed third in the varsity race.

            “The new course was a challenging one, yet the Trojans were able to finish in times reasonably close to those from the flat and fast Hutchinson circuit, a clear sign of improvement in the last 12 days,” Coach Nick Meyer said.

            Josh Dvorak finished first for New Prague, placing ninth and earning a medal.  Dakota Greenwalt also placed in the top 20 for New Prague. Steven Kvam set a personal record and scored fourth for the Trojans, a big breakthrough performance.

            Faribault won the meet with 32 points, while Red Wing was second at 41. The Trojans were third with 122, followed by Tri-City United (124), Jordan (134), Norwood Young America (161), Farmington (223), Mankato Loyola (225), Cannon Falls (245), Le Sueur-Henderson (246) and St. Peter (283).

            Senior Aiden Winn of Red Wing was the medallist, finishing in 16 minutes, 53 seconds, three seconds ahead of Gunnar Miller of Faribault.

            Trojan runners and their results were Dvorak (9th, 17:44), Greenwalt (20th, 18:20), Wyatt Midtvedt (28th, 18:52), Kvam (29th, 18:53), Cole Minnick (26th, 19:04) and Kevin Dudley (46th, 19:54).            

            In the JV race, all five Trojans finished in the top 25, a team effort good for fourth place.  Jack Siegle ran a personal record 19:44 on a tough course and placed eighth. Other runners were Jakob Friedges (14th, 20:14), Asher Floyd (22nd, 20:40), Justin Cameron (24th, 20:44), Greg Vogel (25th, 20:47), Evan Cashman (36th, 21:22) and Ben Giles (42nd, 21:48).

            The team is gearing up for the most important stretch of the season.  The Trojans ran Tuesday at the Victoria Lions Invitational in Chaska and will be in Alexandria on Saturday. The team will then regroup and look to be at its best in three weeks for the final Missota Championships, which will be on their home Cedar Lake course, and again the following week in Buffalo for the Section 2AA Championships.