With only a few meets into the fall season so far, the Rugby Cross Country teams are off to a fantastic start. This past week plus, the teams were in Northwood on Thursday, August 25 and in Carrington this past Tuesday, the 30th. The girls placed 1st overall in Northwood and took home second place as a team at the Carrington Invitational. Tristin Lunde and Ellie Duchscherer were top both 15 finishers in each race while Quinn Neppl, Andrea Arnold & Taylor Nelson finished in the top 30. “We’ve got a lot of kids that are in the same range, ability wise “, stated Head Coach Bill Jensen, “we have six or seven that are close and consistent so far .”

Speaking of the boys, they too had great team races from the last two meets. In Northwood, it was a second place finish for the team and Carrington saw the Rugby squad take home 1st place. Brett O’Connell and Kadin Neppl were top ten finishers in both races, Riley Zachmeier and Gabe Clements were top 20 finishers in the same races. Coach Jansen adds, “while it may be a little harder on the boys side (with New Town in the mix), they seem to have an even stronger pack then the girls, so there is a great upside but time will tell.”

The schedule calls for a bevy of meets early on but once the midseason hits, there will be a little tapering. “It is likely that we will be dead-legged for many of the meets,” mentioned Coach Jansen, “but we will be sure as the season progress to work through any issues.”

After competing in Dunseith on Friday, Sept 2nd, the two sides will have one meet this upcoming week and that will be in Grafton on Thursday.

Hauser is the sports director for AM 1450 KZZJ Radio, Rugby.