Competing on a cool, but calm and clear afternoon with lots of sunshine and fall colors, a total of 24 high school boys’ cross country teams converged on the 5,000-meter course of the Madison Golf Club last Thursday, October 24.
The combined program of Murray County Central and Fulda was among those 24 teams and ran a full seven-member squad, led by junior Maverick Beckmann and senior Lukas Stapek who have been the two best long-distance runners for the Warriors throughout the 10-meet season.
Beckmann, this year’s Red Rock Conference individual champion, has been the team’s lead runner in seven meets, while Stapek — a first-year cross country participant — has been the top Warriors three times and the team’s second guy in six other meets.
At Madison, Beckmann ran near the front of the huge pack of 141 total finishers, just missing a state-meet individual qualification by three places as he finished 17th overall with a time of 18:09.56 — just 13 seconds behind Windom senior Patrick Green (14th overall, eighth among individuals not from one of two qualifying teams), who was the final advancing individual (clocked at 17:56.82).
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