Menahga Public School

1 hour ago

UNC Warriors Cross Country
Section Meet Results @ Bagley
Friday, October 30th

Words from Coach Ed Heltunen
Photos: Jason Aho📸

"Your UNC Warrior cross country teams headed to Bagley yesterday for the section meet. It was a perfect day for racing. We have had a variety of weather to run in at the section meet but yesterday was the best that we can remember in sometime. The times kids were running yesterday definitely were extremely fast because of the weather being the best of the season. Both the boys and girls seasons came to a close yesterday with the girls finishing in 4th place and the boys finishing in 13th. Both were not the results we were hoping for but the kids ran their hearts out for each other for the last race of the season. We were hoping that the kids could peak at the section meet but unfortunately, that was not the case yesterday. We nonetheless have nothing to hang out heads over. We had a great season in 2026. The boys had the highest finish in recent history with a 3rd place finish in the conference and the girls won the conference title for the 4th consecutive season. It didn’t finish how we would have liked it to but that is the nature of sports. There were 18 teams and 121 individuals in the boys race competing for 2 team spots and 6 individual spots. There were 15 teams and 117 individuals in the girls race racing for the same. Every kid there has the same goal; to run fast and help their team make it to state. If they don’t, they want to make it individually. Sometimes fortune falls your way and sometimes you get beat. Results from the race below.

Non seniors..

Girls Race

Eva Lehto finished in 17th with a time of 20:45
Brynn Hendrickson finished in 54th with a PR time of 22:45
Maelle Haverinen finished in 62nd with a time of 23:02
Avery Oyster finished in 68th with a PR of 23:16

Boys Race

Kale Anderson finished in 49th in 19:12 - 48 seconds faster than last year
Rohan Kuschel finished in 77th in 20:22
Waylon Thompson finished in 98th with a monster PR of 21:37 - taking 1:34 off his previous PR.
Draden Kako finished in 106th in a PR time of 22:19
Darryl Haverinen finished in 108th in a SB time of 22:27

Seniors:

Gavin Schreiber finished his career in 42nd with a SB time of 18:54. He finished his career with his best time occurring last year at conference with a personal PR of 18:25. He was a team captain this year, all-conference runner, and finished his career on a high note.

Nolan Heltunen finished his career in 74th with a time of 20:14. His career best time occurred this year at the Park Region conference meet in 19:42. He also was a team captain this year. He led the boys team in mileage this year and improved year over year by over a minute.

Erika Keranen finished in 26th with her new PR time of 21:15. This was a minute faster than she ran last year on a tougher course than her season best time from last year. She had a great season and improved a ton over these last many years. She improved 1 minute from sophomore to junior season and another minute her junior season to her senior season. She also earned all-conference honorable mention this year placing 16th in the conference race. Hard work paid off for this young lady.

Avyana Isaacson finished 49th in 22:11. This young lady battled the last month with a tight IT band which made training difficult. Her personal best time of 21:00 came at Perham this year which was 1:16 faster than last year. This despite having to battle through the cross training and doing what she could to keep racing. She had a gutsy race at conference to help the girls capture the conference title. We debated not running to save the leg for sections but she wanted to run with the girls for the conference title. She finished as an All-conference runner this year and one of our two girls captains.

Anaya Aho finished in 10th place in 19:41. This young lady had an amazing career. Conference and section runner-up last year. 4th at conference and section runner-up as a 10th grader. The #2 last year on our 8th place state girls team. The #3 on our 4th place state girls team in 2024. A PR of 19:19 which is the 3rd fastest time in UNC girls history. Unfortunately this year, our section race was unbelievably fast. She ran a time that would have made it to state in every section meet prior to yesterday. Yesterday, 8 of the 9 girls that finished ahead of her had the race of their life. Some ran 45 seconds faster yesterday than they did all year on a course that is tough to achieve that kind of improvement. That is why the races are run each year. Nothing is guaranteed and you have to go out and earn it every single year. She had an awesome senior campaign but it just came up a little short. She did everything we asked of her this year and had a very solid race yesterday. She definitely can hold her head up high as she did everything she could to repeat her previous success. Sometimes the kids you are racing against just have better days and that was yesterday. She was an all-conference runner this year and also a team captain this year and last year.

These five seniors are going to be tough to replace. They have been great leaders for our young kids. Doing all the hard work, leading practices, and helping keep the season rolling all year long. They will have hopefully left a legacy for the remaining teammates to live up to. We will miss all five of these kids and are already bummed the season is over. It was a great season all around despite ending one meet sooner than we had hoped it would. Us coaches are incredibly proud of all they achieved this year and the future is bright for UNC cross country. The boys team is growing immensely. The girls team is going to have to find a few friends to join them next year to build our depth back up again before all the young girls in 5th and 6th grade are ready to make that leap into the varsity ranks. Till next year… Go Warriors, go Braves, and go Trojans!! It has been a blast celebrating these kids after each meet with their individual performances from the meet and look forward to doing it again next year."

-Coach Ed Heltunen
-Photos: Jason Aho📸 ... See MoreSee Less

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