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North Branch sophomore Caleb Rueter continued his strong start to the cross country season with a third-place finish at the Rock Ridge Invitational Thursday, Sept. 3 at the Virginia Golf Course.

Rueter covered the boys 5K course in 17:20.2, trailing only Hibbing’s Brady Janezich and Charlie Janezich, who finished first and second in 16:49.7 and 16:50.9, respectively.

The Vikings also got a solid run from Ethan Rueter, who crossed the line in 25th place with a time of 18:51.0. Freshman John Steffen was 36th in 19:09.5, followed closely by eighth grader Patrick Damiani in 38th at 19:13.1. Brooks Trampe rounded out North Branch’s scoring five in 56th place with a time of 20:27.0.

The Vikings finished in sicth place overall with a score of 148. Hibbing won the meet with 60 points.

On the girls side, freshman Lyla Stiner paced the Vikings with a 25th-place finish, clocking a personal-best 22:57.3.

Ava Witkowski was North Branch’s next finisher in 52nd place at 24:52.8, while Ruby Hanson took 55th in 25:03.5. Elizabeth Damiani finished 57th in 25:10.9 and Lilly Stelmack was 59th in 25:36.6.

Hermantown eighth grader Nora Lucarelli won the girls race in 19:33.2, finishing 44 seconds ahead of Grand Rapids senior Elaine Jackson.

North Branch finished 10th in the 11th team meet, just one point behind Duluth Denfeld and two points in front of Proctor. Hermantown was the class of the meet, winning with just 50 points.

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