By Brayden Dirks
Last Monday, the MMCRU Cross Country teams went to the Dordt cross country cross in Sioux Center for the War Eagle Conference meet. The Royals had six varsity boys runners participating, two JV boys runners, and two varsity girls runners. The boys team continued their momentum, as they got 2nd overall as a team. Unity Christian came away with first place with a score of 27, and MMCRU finished second with a score of 53. Kaden Galles was the boys conference champion in an impressive time of 17:26. Brett Staab came next with a sixth place finish in a time of 18:39, and Brayden Dirks finished ninth with a 18:51. Dirks and Staab both received All-Conference medals. Owen Alesch finished 17th with a time of 20:19, and Lucas Braun finished 20th with a time of 20:39. Gunnar Grage was right behind Braun with a time of 20:40 in 21st place. Max Pepper and Mason Peters ran junior varsity and Pepper finished with a 23:21 and Peters finished with a 23:33. In the varsity girls race, Alyson Ball placed 43rd with a time of 27:11, and Natalie Plagman placed 55th in a time of 33:26.
Lisa Spieler was thrilled with the results and was excited as the Royals approach state qualifying, “Wow! What a night! The boys team has never finished that well at conference! With State Qualifying only about a week away, we are peaking at just the right time. I encourage people to come support these runners at the State Qualifying meet in Holstein on October 21.”
The Royals also had a meet on Friday afternoon at Orange City. The Unity Christian Invitational was a tough meet for the Royals with windy conditions and great competition. Kaden Galles finished 12th in the varsity boys race in 17:54, and Brayden Dirks finished 38th in 19:10. Lucas Braun finished 59th in 21:06 and Gunnar Grage finished 62nd in 21:20. Mason Peters finished in 23:15 in 75th place and Max Pepper finished in 24:30. Alyson Ball finished 67th in the varsity girls race in 27:34 and Natalie Plagman finished 71st in 31:22. Coach Lisa Spieler expressed her thoughts over the meet, “We went into this meet knowing the competition would be tough, and it was. Our plan was to get in a good workout going into state qualifying. I was very pleased with the times, especially considering the rolling course and windy conditions. Mason Peters had an especially good night, clocking a personal record.” The Royals will head to Holstein on Thursday for the state qualifying meet, looking to push a few runners to Fort Dodge for the state meet. Please come and support on Thursday at Holstein!