Once again getting a first-place performance by state champion Morgan Gehl, along with strong supporting runs by the rest of the well-balanced varsity squad of seven, the Murray County Central / Fulda girls ran to a stellar fourth-place team finish at the Minnesota High School Class A state meet in Northfield Saturday, November 2.
The Warriors, who entered the 16-team meet as the state’s third-ranked Class A girls’ team, outran 12 of the qualifying squads and came within 11 points of being awarded third-place bronze medals.
Leading the MCC / Fulda effort on the St. Olaf College 5,000-meter course was an individual state championship run by junior ace Morgan Gehl. Her extraordinary race is highlighted in a separate story.
By winning the race with her time of 17:53.5, Gehl — as usual — scored just one point for the Warriors, meaning that MCC / Fulda would really only have four higher scores to count (to add to the mere one point claimed by Morgan).
Gehl won the 176-runner Class A race by 27.2 seconds and finished with the third-best girls’ time of the entire day.
Only two Class AA runners — champion Annalee Weaver of Stillwater (17:46.1) and runner-up Abbey Nechanicky of Wayzata (17:52.8, barely) — ran faster times. The third-place AA finisher, Anna Fenske of Farmington, ran the course in 17:58.5, as just four of the 351 total finishers completed the distance in less than 18 minutes.
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