Photos by Natasha Geiser
Jada Goeson became the first female member of the New York Mills cross country team to advance to the state meet.

State cross country meet to kick off Saturday

The New York Mills cross country team headed to snowy Bagley last Friday for the Section 8A meet and ended the day with a runner headed to the state meet. 

Junior Jada Goeson placed fourth in the girls’ race which qualified her for the MSHSL state meet next Saturday in St. Paul. She is the first Eagle female runner to make it to the state. NY Mills first had female runners nine years ago and the Eagles have sent one male to the state, John Karvonen, back in the 1970’s. 

Also running for the NY Mills girls were Katherin Garcia, Morgyn O’Dea and Maggy Weller who all ran very well.  These three had some of their best times despite the fact that there was snow on the race route and the temperature was in the 20’s. 

New York Mills seniors Morgyn O’Dea, Jeron Witt and Katherin Garcia wrapped up their high school cross country careers last week at the section meet.

In the boys’ race, Sophomore Elijah Geiser was the first Eagle to finish as he placed 46th out of 110 with his best time on that course. Jeron Witt had his best finish at this meet and Dawson Seelhammer ran well in the cold conditions. 

After the meet Coach Greg Esala said, “we are excited for Jada as she accomplished something that has not happened before. All of our runners have had an outstanding year as they worked hard every day and have grown to become great teammates.”

The state meet is Saturday at the University of Minnesota Golf Course in St. Paul.  The Class A girls’ race starts at 12:45 p.m.