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Big things can come in small packages, and the North Branch cross country team found that out first-hand at the Becker Invitational last week.

Although the nine-team meet was much smaller than what the Vikings were accustomed to, the quality of opponents wasn't lacking.

The girls, who have won numerous meets this year on the legs of their talented runners, finished in third place in the nine-team meet.

Although they were missing their number one runner, Briana Berthiaume, to a small injury, the girls still wouldn't have been able to catch up to the lead dog with their top runner.

The Vikings' score of 95 was well behind the top two teams, Monticello, who had 29, and Becker, who had 30. Mora was the closest competitor to the Vikings, finishing in fourth place with 132.

With Berthiaume nursing her injury, freshman Alyssa Kroschel stepped up as the Vikings' number one runner. She finished in 16th place in 16:08.

In fact, with Kroschel as the leader of the pack, all seven Viking varsity runners finished within one minute of each other.

Shayna Gray was right behind Kroschel with a 16:09 in 17th place, and Dani Privratsky clocked in soon after with a 16:18 in 18th place.

Junior Miranda Charley was the fourth Viking across the finish line. She came in at 16:33 in 21st place.

Then the second pack of Vikings came in all together. The Zimmerman sisters, Megan and Ali finished back-to-back with freshman Ali finishing in 16:36 in 23rd place and sophomore Megan in 16:48 in 24th place.

Right behind the siblings was junior Karissa Richard, who did an admirable job subbing for Berthiaume. Her 16:55 was good enough for 25th place.

In the boys half of the event, they also finished in third place. Mora took the championship with a score of 32 and Rogers was a distant second with 65 points. The Vikings came in at 88 points, a mere two points ahead of Big Lake in fourth place.

A pair of seniors, Ryan Norman and Mike Heidelberger, set the tone for the Vikings in the boys race when both earned top 10 finishes.

Norman came in at fourth place with a time of 17:20, and Heidelberger clocked in at 17:35 in ninth place.

Sophomore Colin Charpentier was the next Vikings in. His 17:48 was good enough for 15th place.

Joe Klun and Zach Good rounded out the Vikings varsity scoring. Klun finished in 28th place with a time of 18:35, an Good crossed the line in 32nd place with a time of 18:59.

"Despite being a smaller meet in comparison to some of the meets we run in during the year, the competition was very good at the Becker Invite," Head Coach Brian Hasleiet said. "Our kids did run well, and it helped us prepare for the Swain Invite."

Swain Invitational

The successful return of Berthiaume in time for the Swain Invitational at Enger Park Golf Course in Duluth boosted the Vikings confidence going into the meet.

And it also boosted their standing in the 27-team meet. Only 25 points separated the Vikings in seventh place and the Totino Grace Eagles in 10th place. Without Berthiaume, the Vikings may have been on the outside looking in on the top 10.

But, Berthiaume did race, and she was the first Lady Viking across the finish line. She finished in 16:15, which was good enough for 11th place in a field of 143 runners.

Charley and Privratsky stuck together throughout the meet and they finished right next to each other at the end too. Charley earned 46th place with a time of 17:21 and Privratsky earned 47th place with a time of 17:23.

A trio of juniors rounded out the varsity runners for the Vikings, as Haley Hasleiet finished in 59th place with a time of 17:37, Richard finished in 78th place with a time of 18:19.1, and Onalee Yousey finished in 79th place with an 18:19.6.

The boys had a solid race from their one through four runners, but couldn't find a fifth runner to push them into the top 10.

Norman and Heidelberger again paced the Vikings, but this time, they were much closer together in time. Norman came across the finish line in 20th place out of 160 runners. He finished the race in 17:20 flat. Heidelberger was just a step behind him, finishing in 21st place with a time of 17:20.3. Three-tenths of a second separated the two competitive Vikings from each other.

Good and Boyd Suparat each had excellent finishes for the Vikings. Good clocked in at 18:24 in 69th place and Suparat cruised in at 18:41 in 78th place.

With the final varsity spot, Zach Jacobson finished in 124th place in 20:15.

"We had a very successful day at the Swain," Hasleiet said. "The junior and senior boys and girls ran the varsity races for us. We were very pleased that we could take some of our varsity runners out for the younger races and plug in some of our kids who have been running JV all year and still place as high as we did."

While taking out some of the underclassmen who perform well for the Vikings ultimately lowered the varsity squad score, it catapulted both 10th grade squads to victory and a second place finish for the girls seventh and eighth grade team.

"That feat is excellent considering the competition and the number of teams," Hasleiet said.

The North Suburban Conference meet is the last check mark on the Vikings regular season schedule. The Oct. 14 meet will determine the best in the conference and set an early tone for sections. The meet takes place at Bassett Creek Park in Crystal at 3:30 p.m.

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