RARE AIR — The Waseca High School girls’ cross country team won the Section 2AA championship at Bancroft Bay Park in Albert Lea Thursday, Oct. 27, advancing to state as a team for the first time since 2014. From left: Kelsey Draeger, Callie Dufault, Stella Omtvedt, Ella Dufault, Kya Hoof, Melanie Krueger, Taylor Markeson, Maren Schimming, Violet Rowher, and Head Coach Grant Popp. The Bluejays run Saturday, Nov. 5 at St. Olaf College in Northfield. Photo by Laura Mae Murtaugh
Girls’ CC team reaches state
Bluejays take Section 1AA title by 18 points; Isaac Fjelkamp also advances
Bluejays take Section 1AA title by 18 points; Isaac Fjelkamp also advances
Sat, 12/31/2022 - 1:59am
“It’s not every day something like this happens.”— Ella Dufault
Last year, the Waseca High School girls’ cross country team came within a couple breaths of a state meet berth but fell short, settling for two individuals advancing to state.
This year, the entire Waseca girls’ cross country team qualified for state, winning the Section 1AA championship at Bancroft Bay Park in Albert Lea Thursday, Oct. 27.
The team will be joined by Isaac Fjelkamp, who finished sixth overall and advanced to state as an individual.
The state meet is Saturday, Nov. 5 at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
The girls took the section title with 81 points, beating second-place Faribault by 18. Senior Ella Dufault led the team, taking third with a time of 19:37.28. Sophomore Callie Dufault finished seventh with a time of 20:23.52, and 8th-grader Stella Omtvedt was 10th in 20:40.07.
Other contributors to the team’s success were Maren Schimming (14th, 20:53.85), Taylor Markeson (22:48.49), Kelsey Draeger (48th, 22:49.19), and Kya Hoof (51st, 23:03.79).
The last time Waseca sent an entire cross country team to the state meet was in 2014, when head coach Grant Poppe was an assistant.
“It wasn’t until about the halfway point of this season that we started talking about the possibility of winning the section title,” Poppe said. “This group is driven. I honestly didn't expect this. Last year we came within two points of moving on to state… The girls did what they were capable of doing. They ran a great team race.
“You never want your season to end with something going wrong, where you're left saying how close we came,” Poppe continued. “Actually crossing that finish line and doing what we wanted to do was really great.”
This year’s squad was full of the unexpected, and Poppe gave praise to the entire group.
“Kya is running a lot faster,” Poppe praised. “Taylor came back from ACL surgery and was cleared just before the year. Maren was kind of a surprise as a seventh grader. The whole squad had been really focused in practice. We really only had one bad race as a team all year.”
As for Thursday's competition, Poppe said it was around the mile mark in the race and they felt they were in a really good spot.
“I knew we were top at that point, but we just had to be certain,” he said. “I didn’t want a repeat of last year where we thought we might be in and then end up staying home.”
Ella Dufault, Callie Dufault, Omtvedt, Schimming, Hoof, Markeson and Draeger will run for the Jays in the state meet. Ella Dufault and Hoof are the lone seniors.
“It was supposed to be close,” said Ella Dufault. “When we finished and saw our other teammates finishing is when it all became real.”
And what does it mean to advance to state?
“It’s a really cool opportunity,” said Dufault. It’s not every day something like this happens.”
“We have a really strong family-type bond,” said Hoof. “We’re really close and we encourage each other to be better.”
Although the Waseca boys placed seventh (with hosts Albert Lea winning it), they still had some success. Sophomore Isaac Feldkamp’s sixth-place finish (17:18.4) earned him a trip to state.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Fjeldkamp, who’s logged more than 600 miles the last six months. “I’m hoping for a personal record and praying for good weather.
Other Waseca finishers were Joe Feldkamp (11th, 17:37.92), Addison Sampson (41st, 19:10.95), Tristan Godwin (44th, 19:21.69), Tyler Jellum (49th, 19:39.66), Cade Kalbow (59th, 20:12.71), and Colby Hoof (64th, 20:26.12).
The boys will graduate seniors Joe Fjeldkap, Sampson, Kakbow and Jellum.