The annual Turkey Trot Cross Country meet was held at the former Prairie Golf Course just north of Worthington on Thursday, Sept. 13. The temperature was around 85 degrees with gusty winds, however, this did not stop some runners of the AHS Cross County Team from clocking their season best times. The meet started with the Junior High athletes running a 1600 meter course. Hunter Penning completed the course in 8:52, which was good for 25th place. Newcomer Kaysie Lenz also competed the in the Junior High division and had a solid start to her running career, pacing the course in 10:44. Bruce Farinella followed the Junior High girl’s race by competing in the Junior High boy’s race over the same distance. Farinella completed the run in 8:14 and finished in 45th place overall.
The varsity girls, who were coming off many season best performances at Marshall, came to the meet looking to keep making more improvements on the year. Frontrunner Moriah Bullerman had another great day, taking 5th place overall in the field of 99 competing girls. Bullerman cruised to a time of 21:10 in the 5,000 meter course. Sophomore Gracia Elias and freshman Hiltyn Heitkamp found a way to work together, placing 46th and 47th respectively. Elias and Heitkamp ran the course in 25:05 and 25:06, both of which were season best times. Senior Halle Heitkamp pushed through the contest to finish with a time of 26:29 and Sophomore Alysha Wieneke was not far behind with a season best time of 26:42. The girls finished 8th as a team.
The Dragons will travel to Milaca, MN on Saturday, September 22, for the Milaca Mega Meet. This meet is one of, if not the largest, one day cross country meet in the country.
