It was another wet and soggy course for the Dragons in Luverne on October 7th. The recent rain left sitting water scattered all over the area, but that did not slow down the Dragons from running close to season best times. The Junior High girls were the first race on the course. 8th graders Ashlee Christians and Abbey Leopold placed 7th and 8th respectively. Christians ran the 3200 meter course in 16:13 and Leopold paced it in 16:15. William White-Mcleise was up next for the Dragon Junior High squad. Will placed 26th and ran a time of 19:41 in the same course.
The varsity girls were looking to have fast races on the 5,000 meter course in a very competitive field. Moriah Bullerman paced the course in 22:03. This time placed the sophomore in 11th place overall of 54 girls. Hiltyn Heitkamp was the second Dragon to cross the line as she and Gracia Elias pushed each other throughout the race. Heitkamp ran 23:41 and placed 27th while Elias ran 23:48 and placed 28th. Halle Heitkamp placed 39th and ran 25:31, only five second from her season best time this year. Alysha Wieneke rounded out the top five for the Dragons running 25:36 and placing 41st overall. Senior Courtney Penning missed a personal best by about ten seconds running 26:47 and sophomore Annika Elias added another solid meet to her season with a time of 27:47. The girls placed 5th as a team.
On the boy’s side, Brady Henning continued to show the competitor within during the 5,000 meter race. After sitting around 8th place after the first mile, Henning was able to make up ground and eventually catch the lead pack. With a strong finish, Henning was able to win the race with a time of 17:40. Junior Chirstian Weidert passed many runners as well, placing 17th overall of 57 runners. His time was 19:42. Caleb Hornstein ran the course in 22:39 and placed 43rd. Senior Mitchell Veld ran a personal best time of 23:33 and added a fast finish to his 5,000 meter run.
