Cross country: Packer girls make opening statement
Published 9:30 pm Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Austin’s Madison Overby, left, leads a pack of runners at the beginning of the Austin cross country invite in Meadow Greens golf course. Overby took first and the Packers won the invite. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
The Austin girls cross country opened its season on a strong note as it had the top three finishers and took first place in the eight-team Austin cross cross country invite in Meadow Greens golf course Tuesday.
Austin’s Paiton Schwab, right, and Abby Lewis sprint side by side down the stretch at the Austin cross country invite in Meadow Greens golf course Tuesday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Austin junior Madison Overby led the girls’ field with a time of 14:49.80 and about 30 seconds later Paiton Schwab came in at second with Abby Lewis on her heels for third place. Morgan Hose took eighth and Tasia Martinson finished 18th for Austin.
“It’s kind of refreshing. We were working so hard in practice and it’s good to get the first meet over with and we were all up there,” Overby said. “I was really nervous coming in and I didn’t really know where I was at. This was a good start.”
The Packers won the Big Nine title for the first time in school history last season and Tuesday’s meet — which featured seven teams from the Big Nine — showed that Austin is among the Big Nine elite once again.
Schwab said she feels the Packers have improved since last season, but they weren’t sure they would do quite as they well as they did in their first meet. Austin finished 32 points ahead of second place Rochester Century.
“There are so many teams here and we weren’t expecting to be that far up,” Schwab said. “It was really cool to see how far we’ve come since last year. We’ve been pushing each other in practice and we’ve been working together.”
Austin’s Holden Ourada, right, and Mitchell Mayer, left, run for the Packer cross country team at Meadow Greens Golf Course Tuesday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Austin’s girls team has many of the same runners back from last season, but all of them have an extra year of experience to help them out.
“I’m more comfortable this year,” Lewis said. “Last year was my first year running the course and it’s nice to know the course and to know what I’m doing.”
The Austin boys cross country team took fifth place out of seven teams Tuesday.
The Packers were led by Houlden Ourada, who took 17th place. Sawyer Meyers finished 23rd, Mitchell Mayer was 25th and Matt Retterath was 28th.
AUSTIN RESULTS
Girls: Madison Overby (first, 14:49.80); Paiton Schwab (second, 15:21.00); Abby Lewis (third, 15:21.10); Morgan Hose (eighth, 16:03.90); Tasia Martinson (18th, 16:39.0); Nicole Justice (41st, 17:21.80); Grace Anderson (72nd, 19:00.50)
A group of Austin runners run together at the Austin cross country invite in Meadow Greens Golf Course Tuesday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
TEAM SCORES: 1. Austin, 32; 2. Rochester Century, 64; 3. Owatonna, 84; 4. Albert Lea, 102; 5. Rochester Lourdes, 106; 6. Faribault, 127; 7. Mankato West, 147; 8. Rochester John Marshall, 234
Boys: Holden Ourada (17th, 17:53.10); Sawyer Myers (23rd, 18:12.40); Mitchell Mayer (25th, 18:13.30); Matt Retterath (27th, 18:28.80); Ben Walker (34th, 18:53.20); Isaac Schumacher (62nd, 20:04.00)
TEAM SCORES: 1. Rochester Century, 29; 2. Faribault, 43; 3. Owatonna, 107; 4. Albert Lea, 108; 5. Austin, 112; 6. Rochester Lourdes, 156; 7. Rochester John Marshall, 168