Special Saturday Welcomes 2,400 Runners to Enger Golf Course

One of the biggest area high school running events in the Northland was held on Saturday.

2, 400 runners took part in the 62nd annual Swain Cross-Country invite at Enger Golf Course, next to the section final and the state tournament it's one of the biggest races of the year for many area high school teams.

Over 75 high school teams from the region took part in the event in Duluth.

And when the final results were determined the Northland area teams did very well.  Esko girls team won the Class A girls race, Marisa Shady of the Eskomos was 2nd overall in a time of 15:17.  Clare Flanagan of Blake was the winner.  Shady also plays on the Esko girls soccer team during the fall, and plays two varsity sports.  After the race she said she knew she would be tested, "Clare is is one of my toughest competitors and I love to race against her and some of the other girls  from state to see where I'm at."

The Class A boys race was won by Matt Welch of Proctor in a time of 15 minutes 23 seconds.  The Esko boys team was 3rd overall in Class A.

In the Class AA girls race, Erin Baker of Grand Rapids was 2nd overall in a time of 15:23.  She said after the race, "I think the key is to just not try and get out front.  With this race, with the big hills you want to kind of conserve your energy.  My plan was to just stick with the top pack, and stick it out, and I'm happy with how it all turned out."

In the Class AA boys race, Cloquet's Dylan Marvel was 6th overall in a time of 16:21.  Afterwards, he was pleased, " Yeah, the whole thing is a mental game kind of just telling yourself it doesn't really hurt as much as it does.  And just telling yourself you can go with the next guy, even thou he looks great."  H added, "The second lap hurt the most, with the hill."

The state meet is Nov 3rd at St. Olaf College.  I'm sure the Northland runners will shine there as well.

While a couple thousand runners were racing in Duluth, several hundred swimmers were at the new Ordean East Middle School pool on Saturday taking part in the Greyhound Invite.

10 teams were at the swimming and diving meet, and in the end Faribault won the team event with a score of 333.  Roseville was 2nd at 311.  Bemidji 3rd, Chaska 4th.  Grand Rapid was the top local team at 5th, led by Solveig Viren who won the 100 free in a time of :53 and was 2nd in the IM with a time of 2:17.    Duluth East 6th,  Blaine 7th, Superior 8th, Mesabi East 9th and Denfeld was 10th.  Kaitlin Heinen of the Superior Spartans won the 500 free in a time of 5:20.

Duluth was two new pools this year, one at Ordean East Middle school and Lincoln Park Middle school.

The UMD womens hockey team also played Saturday and lost 3-2 to the Ohio State Buckeyes in Womens WCHA hockey in Duluth at Amsoil Arena.

And the nationally ranked UMD football team won their Hall of Fame game over MSU-Moorhead on Saturday 45-14 also in Duluth at Malosky Stadium.  UMD is now 5-1 on the year and heads to Minot State this weekend.

Hope you had a special Saturday!