September 25, 2008 at 8:27 a.m.
North Branch runs at a quick pace at the prestigious Milaca Mega Meet
North Branch runs at a quick pace at the prestigious Milaca Mega Meet
The weather couldn't have been better for running, as there was a slight breeze, it was sunny and the temperature stayed warm.
The girls used that to their advantage in the first varsity race of the day. Senior Briana Berthiaume paced the Vikings, crossing the finish line in fifth place in a time of 15:47.6. Fifth place was especially impressive, since the field of runners was 116 deep.
Freshman Alyssa Kroschel was the second Viking to cross the finish line, and the third freshman overall. She finished in 16:11.5
Sophomore Shayna Gray wasn't far behind Kroschel, as she finished in 11th place with a time of 16:20.5.
"Alyssa and Shayna ran excellent races finishing in the top 15," said North Branch Head Coach Brian Hasleiet.
The fourth Viking to cross, sophomore Ali Zimmerman, pulled into the finish line in 22nd place, with a time of 16:41.2.
Four seconds later, junior Miranda Charley finished the 5K race in 16:45.7 for a 26th place finish. Those five comprised the team score for the Lady Vikings, which ended up being 73. The score put them in third place, only four points behind Sartell-St. Stephen, who had a pair of runners finish one-two in the meet,and Monticello, who had all five runners in the top 15.
Besides those three teams, no one got even close to breaking 100. After NB's 73, Duluth East finished in fourth place with a 124, and Grand Forks Central finished with 134 to round out the top five teams.
Other Vikings who had strong showings that didn't count towards the Vikings score was Haley Hasleiet and Dani Privratsky. Privratsky, a senior, finished in 31st place with a time of 16:51.6, and Hasleiet finished in 49th place with a time of 17:25.8.
Heidi Peterson of Sartell-St. Stephen won the girls portion of the meet with a time of 15:12.0.
In the junior varsity and seventh and eighth grade meets, the girls also realized they have some serious potential coming up the ranks. "Megan Zimmerman had an excellent day in the Girls JV race, finishing fourth, and Haley Huset continued to show her talent by finishing second in the girls seventh grade race out of 137 runners.
In the boys event, the Vikings' boys didn't do quite as well as the girls, but they still had a respectable meet.
Senior Ryan Norman, who has been the backbone to this squad throughout the season, finished in 20th place in a time of 17:31.7. "Ryan again led the Vikings boys finishing 20th," Hasleiet said. " The boys really ran in a nice pack and they showed their continued improvement finishing 11th out of 25 teams."
That pack that Hasleiet was talking about was the four Vikings that all finished within six spots of each other.
Mike Heidelberger led the pack and finished in 55th place in 18:20.5, two spots behind him in 57th place was sophomore Colin Charpentier, with a time of 18:25.5.
Just a few spots behind Charpentier, in 59th place, was junior Joe Klun, who finished in 18:28.3, and Boyd Suparat capped off the Viking rush at the finish line by finishing in 61st place with a time of 18:31.6.
Zach Good rounded out the Viking varsity runners with an 18:57, good enough for 73rd place.
The points accumulated translated into an 11th place finish for the Vikings boys team. They finished just two points behind Big Lake, and nine behind Duluth East.
Red Wing won the meet with a score of 81, and Sartell-St. Stephen was in second place with a 107. Orono rounded out the top three teams with a 144.
The next meet for the runners is Saturday, Oct. 4. The Swain Invitational, which is right up there with the Mega Meet as a premier race in the state of Minnesota, is in Duluth on Saturday, and the first race begins at 9 a.m.
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