The 2009 Lady Cardinal runners had a tough meet last Friday night, running in about four inches of snow and cold weather. In the words of Cardinal Katie Stone, "The race was insane, there was like four inches of snow everywhere and the wind was insane! We didn't go to state but we sure put it all out there and we were really close."

On Oct. 27 eighteen teams gathered in Bagley to race for the Section 8A title and a trip to the State meet in Northfield this coming week.

"Going into the section race, we knew we were a contender for an opportunity to advance to the state meet… yet we were the underdog. There were five excellent teams in the field of 22, and we were about third or fourth," Coach Bruce Fuhrman said. "We had practiced well and were ready for the chance of wind and snow. When we arrived in Bagley it was heavy snow, but we used this to our advantage, learning the course well before the meet."

Only the section champs and runner-up teams get the chance to go to the State meet. Although the Cardinals fought hard and ran well, the team finished fourth behind the runners from Perham, Park Rapids and Warroad. Burce stated that the whole race was a challenge, with the falling snow making things slippery and causing many of the runners to slip and fall. He said that the Perham runners were struggling with this, but so were the Cardinals, and the Yellowjackets managed to catch them early in the race. "By the second mile the Park Rapids girls had caught our pack as well and we were chasing both of them. Our goal was to catch all runners in our pack down the straight-away before the final 100 meters. Our pack runners did that well, but we were tired and we lost some momentum in the fi- nal kick," Fuhrman said.

Senior Kaytlin Roth is finishing out her last season as a Cardinal Cross Country runner in a great way. Both Roth and Junior Emma Pogreba are headed to state as individuals, as each raced to a top ten finish. Roth ran by some great competition, to take the fourth place slot, while Pogreba was not far behind in sixth. "Kaytlin was exceptional today," Fuhrman said. "She sprang to the front of the group and held her position the entire race. She has had her finest year as a cross country runner. Emma was also strong in the tough conditions. She managed to beat several great runners today. I am looking forward to watching Kayt and Emma compete as individuals at the state meet."

Coming in third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh for the Cardinals were racers Katie Stone( 29), Kyann Nyhus (36), Jenna Zielger (43), Emily Fuhrman (44) and Tayler Klimek (45). "Katie was able to run a fast pace in the deepening snow and it appeared as though we could have three runners in before Park Rapids and Perham. Kyann, Emily and Jenna were pack running and things were looking very good for us. A late surege by Tayler put her in

the group also." Fuhrman

said. He also noted that, "Our girls were confident

and relaxed. We ran our finest race of the year as a team and that is a great way to end the season. We have had much success putting this team together this year. What a great bunch of kids to work with. This is a good team. We have had some major obstacles early on and we put together a contender. I am very proud of what we have done."
1. Perham, 48
2. Park Rapids Area, 81
3. Warroad, 107
4. Staples Motley, 113
5. Roseau, 130
6. Lake of the Woods/Rainy River,
138
7. Pequot Lakes, 172
8. Thief River Falls, 226
9. Pelican Rapids, 238
10. East Grand Forks, 292
11. Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdahl, 307
12. Pillager, 349
13. Lake Park-Audubon, 386
14. Pine River-Backus, 402
15. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, 413
16. Trek North, 416
17. Frazee, 491
18. United North Central, 515

4. Kaytlin Roth, 16:45.77; 6. Emma Pogreba, 16:51.53; 29. Katie Stone, 18:23.76; 36. Kyann Nyhus, 18:37.55; 43. Jenna Ziegler, 19:08.15; 44. Emily Fuhrman, 19:03.73; 45. Tayler Klimek, 19:09.26