Hutchinson sophomore Isabelle Schmitz has not been shy this year about her cross-country goals. She wants to win a state title, and last week she took another step toward that goal with a first-place finish at the Section 2AA Championship in Minnetrista.
As with most races this year, Schmitz blew the competition away, beating out the second- and third-place runners by nearly 30 seconds. Unlike other races, those runners were Laura Thompson and Macy Hanson of Fairmont, who are ranked No. 5 and No. 7 in state, respectively. They were good competition, but Schmitz still had no problem winning comfortably.
“I was surprised when they didn’t stick with me at the beginning of the race,” Schmitz said of the Fairmont runners. “I think I’ve had a bit of a reputation throughout the season, and they just let me go. At the beginning of the race I decided it was my race and I was just going to go out and try to win it.”
This is her second section title, and it helped propel the Tigers girls team to an eighth-place finish overall out of 12 teams. In fact the boys team also took eighth-place overall and was led by Mason Getz, who finished 16th.
This was the first year of cross-country split into three classes rather than two, as in past years. The change meant the Tigers had fewer teams to compete against at sections, and they were from different, smaller schools. Coach Michael Reponen was still pleased with the eighth-place finishes.
“Typically in section meets the last few years, we’ve been one of the back teams, not last but pretty close,” he said. “So it was nice to be more in the middle of the pack this time. We have a very young team, so we were looking and talking about next year — OK, we’re at eighth, let’s keep our eyes forward and slowly (figure out) what does it take to be a middle-of-the-pack team and beyond.”
A pack of four
Schmitz is Hutch’s only runner making the trip to the Class AA State Meet, which is 3:30 p.m. Saturday, at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
She’s been to state two previous years, taking 22nd place as a seventh-grader and 17th place as an eighth-grader. Now she’s hoping to become the second Hutchinson cross-country runner ever to win a state title, the first was Kasandra Hendricks in 1999.
“There’s me and about four other girls who are really going for the state title,” she said. “I’m sure the other girls I’m going to compete against are also confident, and that makes me a little nervous. I know this is going to be different for me because I’m not used to running in a pack. It’ll be a different race strategy.”
Those other three runners are No. 2 Molly Moening of St. Paul Highland Park, No. 3 Olivia Goebel of Albany, and No. 4 Natasha Sortland of Zumbrota-Mazeppa.
Reponen said the times of Schmitz and the other three competitors have all been within 10 seconds of each other this year, and while Schmitz, who is ranked No. 1, has a slight lead going into the state meet, any of those four could win.
Schmitz’s strategy is simple: She’s going to start out fast and hope to build an early lead like she has all year long. It will be up to the other three to keep up with her.
“That really makes me feel good when I get out just a little bit ahead and I can go and run fast,” Schmitz said.
“Her strategy is one where she wants to make it a competitive race early and push those girls that, if they’re going to beat here, they’re going to have to work harder,” Reponen said.
Section 2AA Championship (Oct. 26)
Girls results: 1. Marshall 49, 2. Mankato East 86, 3. Mankato West 118, 4. Belle Plaine 122, 5. New Prague 144, 6. Fairmont 147, 7. Jordan 149, 8. Hutchinson 198, 9. Glencoe-Silver Lake 226, 10. St. Peter 289, 11. Worthington 294, 12. Tri-City United 301
Medalist: Isabelle Schmitz (Hutch) 18:14.81
Hutchinson (82 runners): 1. Schmitz 18:14.81, 36. Morgan Dean 21:51.3, 47. Madison Wester 22:39.24, 53. Sayuri Sakamoto 23:24.78, 61. Corina Powell 24:18.06; 63. Kiera Ziemer 24:31.69; 79. Ava Bjorngjeld 26:32.12
Boys results: 1. Worthington 51, 2. Mankato East 61, 3. Belle Plaine 90, 4. New Prague 119, 5. Marshall 125, 6. Jordan 151, 7. Mankato West 170, 8. Hutchinson 231, 9. Fairmont 261, 10. Tri-City United 285, 11. Glencoe-Silver Lake 316, 12. St. Peter 333
Medalist: Emmett Gerres (BP) 16:20.6
Hutchinson (82 runners): 16. Mason Getz 17:30.13, 44. Cameron Wagner 18:48.65, 46. Riley Yerks 19:04.32; 51. Tyson Farley 19:15.25, 74. Keegan Dennis 21:22.86; 75. Frank Augustine 21:23.78, 78. Nathan Johnson 22:13.73
Editor's note: This story was corrected to note that Kasandra Hendricks was the first Hutchinson cross-country runner to ever win a state title.
