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The North Branch cross country teams continued their winning ways at home Thursday, September 14. The girls led from start to finish, while the boys finished strong to beat competitors from five other schools at the North Branch Invitational.

The girls, led by ninth grader Miranda Charley, swept the first six places to record a score of 15, the lowest point total possible. Team scores are determined by adding the places of the first five finishers for each team. For example, first place equals one point, second place equals two points, etc. (1+2+3+4+5=15).

In typical understated fashion, the obviously pleased Viking head coach Ward Gilkerson said, “The girls ran pretty well.”

Girls’ Results

Team Scores

North Branch 15

Pine City 64

Hinckley-Finlayson 84

Moose Lake inc

Rush City inc

Braham inc

Individual NB Results

Runner Place Time

Miranda Charley 1 16:42

Shayna Gray 2 17:36

Haley Hasleiet 3 17:47

Briana Berthiaume 4 17:48

Kendra Norman 5 17:48

Tiffany Peterson 6 17:49

Dani Privratsky 10 18:55

The boys’ strong finish turned a close meet into a relatively easy win for the Vikings. After 4000 meters of the 5K race, Pine City and the Vikings were running neck-and-neck, but Nick Ramberg and JJ Koerber kept their positions (3 and 4) and the next three runners moved up to secure the win.

“Brandon Nagle passed a lot of guys in the last half mile,” said Gilkerson.

Boys Results

Team Scores

North Branch 34

Pine City 47

Moose Lake 91

Hinckley-Finlayson 102

Rush City inc

Braham inc

Individual NB Results

Runner Place Time

Nick Ramberg 3 17:35

JJ Koerber 4 17:43

Ryan Norman 7 18:07

Mike Heidelberger 9 18:46

Brandon Nagle 11 19:00

Cody Good 14 19:22

Aaron Cedergren 15 19:39

The Vikings are back in action at the Chisago Lakes Invitational Tuesday, September 26. The meet, at Ki-Chi-Saga Park in Lindstrom, starts at 4 p.m.

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