Minnesota gets all four auto berths in Heartland

By Paul Schmitz for DyeStat

On a perfect fall day in Sioux Falls, S.D., Minnesota teams dominated the NXR Heartland regional.

It didn’t start off that way. New Town, the Class B champion from North Dakota, went out early and tried to hold on. New Town, a school located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, led at the mile mark and the 2-mile mark, but ultimately could not hold on all the way to the finish line against Minnesota’s powerhouses and slipped fourth place – just nine points out of an auto qualifying second.

Edina MN edged out Millard West NE and New Town 185-190-194 for that coveted second spot. All of them were chasing Wayzata MN, which continued its domination of the region in 2016 with 94 points.

Khalid Hussein led Wayzata with a fourth place finish in 15:05. Behind him was a tightly grouped pack at 18, 23, 24, 25 and 30.  

On the girls side, the story of three teams turned out to be the story of two teams. Highly ranked Edina and Willmar ran away from the rest of the field and each punched return tickets to NXN, switching their 1-2 spots from a year ago. Edina will make its second straight appearance and Willmar will return for a third straight year.

Iowa champion Johnston sprinted out to an early lead in the first mile. Edina was eighth and Willmar was 11th at the mile. Edina moved in the second mile to claim the lead, with Wayzata moving to second and Willmar to third. Willmar charged past Wayzata in the final 1,000 meters but could not overtake the Minnesota Class AA champions. 

Edina won by six points, 79-85. Wayzata, which did not qualify for state out of Minnesota’s Section of Death, obviously used that time to prepare for the regional race. Wayzata finished third with everyone across the finish line under 18:50 and possibly moved into contention for an at-large berth.

The afternoon was surprisingly warm and the teams that went out too fast payed for it at the end. The New Town ND boys and Johnston IA girls raced with brave, aggressive plans but the heat took its toll they could not hang on.  

On the individual side, both races had their share of drama.

The boys race turned into a fantastic two-horse race with national elites (and future Wisconin  teammates) US#10 Finn Gessner of Madison La Follette WI and US#3 Seth Hirsch of Millard West NE, who ran shoulder to shoulder for the last half mile and traded the lead several times with neither runner going forward by more than a foot. They ran that way right through the tape to a photo finish. Gessner was declared the winner with a .1 second victory and incredible time of 14:39.4. Three more runners broke the 15-minute barrier on the way to qualifying for NXN. Milo Greder of Omaha Westside NE ran 14:51.6, Seth Eliason of Hopkins MN ran 14:54.1 and Alex Miley of Maple Grove MN was fifth at 14:54.2.  

The drama was more heartbreaking on the girls side. US#6 Cailie Logue from Girard KS got zapped by the heat and fell to the ground with 100 yards to go in the race. We had been running first or second most of the race and was in position to qualify with a top-five spot. But it took her 30 seconds to get back on her feet and finish the race. The outcome does little to diminish the accomplishments of the four-time Kansas champion and Iowa State recruit. She still has Foot Locker Midwest.

Fellow Kansan Molly Born of Shawnee Mission Northwest, the two-time Kansas 6A champion, finished with an eye-popping time of 16:49.3. Born ran a controlled race, moving from seventh at the mile mark to fourth at the 2-mile before taking control in the last 1,000 meters. She will be joined in Portland by two Farmington MN teammates, eighth grader Anna Fenske and 10th grader Lauren Peterson who finished third and fifth at 17:00 and 17:22. Also qualifying were Emily Venters of Lawrence Free State, another Kansas standout who placed second in  16:56, and US#27 Karly Ackley, senior from Grand Forks Central ND, who was fourth at 17:13.