You can't beat improvement.
Heading into the tough Section 8-2A cross country meet, the Detroit Lakes boys' squad were looked upon as the No. 7 seed, but after the race, the Lakers bumped up one spot and finished sixth as a team with 190 points.
"I was very happy with the team finish," said DL head coach Bill Kvebak. "I thought it was a strong finish. Considering there are 118 schools in Class 2A in boys' cross country and there are only eight smaller schools than us and we finished sixth out of 16 teams in this section -- I was happy with it."
There was a bit of a shakeup in the Lakers' finish order, as senior Dylan Ramstad-Skoyles entered the meet struggling with a hamstring injury.
Brandon Olson took his first DL medalist finish after finishing 23rd overall with a time of 17:23.4.
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Jason Stallman was the second Laker in at 17:40.2 in 33rd, while Wes Bakken was 40th at 17:59.4 and Ramstad-Skoyles was 46th at 18:10.0.
Rounding out DL's score was Travis King's 48th place finish with a time of 18:10.5. The final two Laker runners in were Mike Okeson in 73rd (18:55.4) and Jake Fritz in 74th (18:55.7).
The progression of Olson was quite impressive, Kvebak said, and the junior runner was flirting being the top DL runner in the second half of the season.
"Brandon had an outstanding season," Kvebak said. "All year, he was pushing the envelope to become the top runner. Jason (Stallman) also was a consistent two or three runner for us and Wes Bakken ran well as our third runner.
"Dylan just didn't have the ability he had all season because of his hamstring."
The section team title was won by Moorhead, which also had the meet's medalist in Lukas Gemar, who won with a time of 16:04.9.
"It was a tough, tough meet," Kvebak said. "But the guys didn't come in just wanting to race and finish well. They ran with a purpose and did their best to chase (a state berth) down."
Laker results
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Section 8-2A meet in Fergus Falls, Friday, Oct. 29.
Team results -- Moorhead 40, Alexandria 75, Bemidji 76, Monticello 99, Sartell 135, Detroit Lakes 190, Fergus Falls 208, Brainerd 243, St. Michael-Albertville 249, Little Falls 259, Big Lake 264, Rocori 297, St. Cloud Apollo 357, St. Cloud Tech 367.
DL results -- 23. Brandon Olson 17:23.4; 33. Jason Stallman 17:40.2; 40. Wes Bakken 17:59.4; 46. Dylan Ramstad-Skoyles 18:10.0; 48. Travis King 18:10.5; 73. Mike Okeson 18:55.4; 74. Jake Fritz 18:55.7.
