NORTH MANKATO — Audi Thom was the individual winner, helping Mankato East win its third straight championship at the Section 2AA boys cross country meet Thursday at Benson Park.
East had four runners in the top 10, posting a team score of 35. Marshall was second at 37, with Mankato West in fourth at 105 and St. Peter in sixth at 172.
Thom finished in 15:44.9, with teammate Dayton Clobes in third at 16:02.6. Joseph Foley placed ninth at 16:27.2, Andrew Stoltman took 10th at 16:27.3, and Colin Talle was 12th at 16:34.9.
West’s Tyler Kirchoff and Ephraim Staley qualified for the state meet. Kirchoff placed 14th at 16:40.0, one spot ahead of Staley at 16:41.9.
St. Peter’s Alexander Bur also qualified for the state meet by placing 11th at 16:34.8.
St. Peter won the girls race with 53 points, followed by Marshall at 78, East at 83 and West at 85. It’s the Saints’ first section championship since 1997.
Keira Friedrich led the Saints with a second-place finish in 18:27.2, with teammate Lucia Penner in third at 19:06.7. Brielle Friedrich placed eighth in 19:31.2.
East’s Lauren Henkels finished in fourth in 19:10.0. West’s state qualifiers were Landree Quint (fifth, 19:15.1) and Lila Adams (seventh, 19:21.2).
The state meet will be held Nov. 2 at the University of Minnesota.
Section 2A: For the first time in program history, the Mankato Loyola/Cleveland/St. Clair boys and girls each took first at the section meet, held at Norwood Young America.
The girls team scored 76 points, with Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey in second at 108.
Charlotte Meyer was the individual winner in 18:09.2, and Valerie Quast took fifth in 19:31.08.
In the boys race, the Crusaders’ Soren Kelly was the individual winner in 16:27.51, with teammate Sam Vetter in second at 16:51.79. Kyle Zimmerman placed 11th at 17:30.04.
The Crusaders scored 48 points, with Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey in second at 83.
Girls tennis
Class A tournament: Maple River advanced two doubles teams to the semifinals at the Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center.
The team of Kelsey Jaeger and Macy Sohre won the opening match 6-4, 6-1 over Crookston’s Addie Fee and Kaylie Causon 6-4, 6-1, then defeated Molly Patten and Emma Knudsen of Litchfield 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Madison Ward and Ally Mersman won 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round against Pipestone Area’s Vivian Brockberg and Alicia Haack. In the quarterfinals, the Maple River duo won 6-3, 7-5 against Vivian Lahti and Kate Unverzagt of Pine City.
Both teams play semifinal matches at 8 a.m. Friday.
Volleyball
Belle Plaine 3, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 0: Allysen Mann had four kills and three blocks in the Knights’ 25-18, 25-11, 25-15 loss at top-seeded Belle Plaine in the Section 2AA playoffs.
Reese Palmer had 10 assists, and Madison Huper made seven digs.
LCWM finishes the season at 20-10.
Glencoe-Silver Lake 3, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 0: Addison Condon had nine kills and 20 digs, and Liza Baker added eight kills and 31 digs in the Bucs’ loss in the Section 2AA playoffs.
Ashlyn Pelant made 14 assists.