Last week the Eagles cross country team was busy with two early meets, one in Staples on Monday and one they hosted on Thursday.

When the Eagle runners traveled to Staples, it was the first high school race for five team members and an exciting time for them all. In the junior high girls race, Millie Schik was the first Eagle to finish placing 13th out of 41 competitors. In the boys junior high race Layton Meyer finished first for NY Mills placing seventh out of 71 runners. 

In the varsity girls race, freshman Sadie Hotikainen finished 47th out of 89 runners in her first varsity race. Dawson Seelhammer was the first Eagle boy to finish the race and he cut almost 30 seconds off his race time from last year.

On Thursday at their home meet at Sonnenberg Trails, NY Mills did very well with many racers having their best times so far this year.  

In the two junior high races, Millie Schik placed second, Helena Kimber came in third for the girls and for the boys Layton Meyer was third and Finn Costin sixth. For the varsity girls race Sadie Hotikainen was sixth, Jemma Goeson seventh, and Bailey Hammond 14th, while in the boys varsity race Dawson Seelhammer was fifth, Chavez Cannon eighth, Noah Radniecki ninth, Matthew Freholtz 14th and Loren Underdahl 15th.

After this busy first week of competitions Coach Greg Esala said, “It was outstanding to see our runners working hard and doing their best. It is already possible to see their improvements.” 

Esala went on to thank the Sonnenbergs for allowing the runners to not only practice on their trails, but also host a meet there. This week the NY Mills runners head to Wadena for a Tuesday meet at Whitetail Golf Course.