At the beginning of this season, no one expected much from Wayzata girls XC. They were young, and very inexperienced, and the competition they would face all year was everything but. But, these girls decided early that they were going to uphold the history of excellence of this team, and were willing to put in the work that came with it.
At State, they would be facing Edina who had beat them every time they competed all season, as well as Minnetonka and STMA who had beat them at Conference. Add in Waconia Forest Lake, and Blaine who had all had strong seasons, and they had their work cut out for them.
Minnetonka, Edina, Blaine, and STMA all had runners that would fight to win individually. Senior Evie Malec came away with the top spot with a 17:33. But the team competition is about depth, and Wayzata and Blaine had it in spades.
Wayzata finished an incredible 2nd place overall! Faith Sundet finished 13th with an 18:26, followed by Senior Sienna Blomberg at 18:30 at 18th. Naoka Neitz had an incredible PR and finished 21st at 18:36. Alissa Ledman came in at 32nd at 18:53, and Adele Stark in the top 50 with a 19:07. Brianna Ledman finished 56th and Sabrina Shrestha brought the top 7 home in the top 100 with a 19:44. They had done it again! Going into the season barely ranked in the top 10, they made it their mission to prove that Wayzata should never be discounted.
On the boys side, it was one of the closest team finishes in history. Only 3 points separated first from third place.
Wayzata boys had a crazy ending with Washburn at Sections last week with one of the Washburn runners being disqualified at the finish, meaning that Wayzata took the win. Both teams knew this was going to be a battle for the top, and it lived up to the hype.
Wayzata had 2 in the top 20 with Charlie Williams at 13th with a 15:44 followed closely by another Junior, Thomas Berndt at 15th. Senior Will Chabot came in at 53rd, and Troy Tong with a 16:19 at 62nd. Ryan Haag and Benjamin Raisanen finished hard with a 16:25 and 16:28, placing top 80 in a field of 160.
Everyone watched the large screen with anticipation as the individuals were removed from the team scores, and Washburn and Wayzata toggled back and forth between first and second place, the crowd reacting every time it did. Final scores were put up and Wayzata placed 2nd by a point, followed by Rosemount just 2 points behind. An incredible race, coming down to less than a second. No doubt this is going to be a must see rematch at Nike Regionals in Sioux Falls next weekend where all 3 of these teams will be back.
Wayzata is the only school in the state, across all of the classes, to have both boys and girls teams podium. The Wayzata XC dynasty on both sides, continues another year.
