The St. Louis cross country team competed at the Early Season Warrior Invite at Chippewa Hills High School, Aug. 21. Both the boys’ and girls’ team earned runner-up at the invite.

Mr. Puffpaff stated, “It was a great opener; conditions were extremely difficult and I feel as a team, we handled it very well.” He also added, “The weather conditions definitely affected everybody; everyone had to race in the same conditions. We handled it very well, controlling the things that were within our control.” Furthermore, “We have a great group of athletes that care for each other and work for each other. We are a hardworking, tough minded group that is really buying into the process, we are fairly young and getting better everyday,” Puffpaff added.

All in all, Joe Erickson came in first for our school with a time of 19:26.80, Austin Aldrich followed with a time of 19:32.46, Austyn Rhines jumped in with a time of 20:02.92, Alex Davis with 21:31.66, and Craig Bebow with 21:36.25. For the girls, Libby Munderloh took the lead with 19:36.12, Mikenna Borie followed with 20:17.12, Brooklyn Filipak chimed in with 22:59.07, Mikaila Borie with 23:27.59, and Sela Delgado with 24: 49.25.

However, the weather conditions were fairly rough, along with the conditions of the course. Considering the course had a fair amount of steep hills, and there was rain, runners were seen slipping and falling. Yet, everyone on the team performed very well, no matter the circumstances.