The Northland Pines varsity cross country teams have formed into a strong pack as the season heads into the final stretch of the regular season. That bond helped the Eagles during two meets last week, including six runners medaling at a meet last Saturday hosted by Merrill High School.

The Eagles also competed at the Three Lakes Invite a few days prior to that on Sept. 24.

Senior Ethan Miller took first place in the boys’ race in Merrill, while sophomore Jarrett Grassl, Colin Miller and Logan Manriques all medaled for the boys’ team. Freshman Kelsey Huber and junior Emily Ritter both medaled in the varsity girls’ race.

This was the first time the Merrill meet was run in the school forest, which provided a nice test for all competitors.

Head Coach Patrick Gauthier said the team showed strong poise, with the Three Lakes and Merrill meets being two days apart.

“It was a quick turnaround for this meet, and I can’t say enough about the effort and spirit this team has,” he mentioned.

Miller didn’t lose positioning in this race and held first place throughout the race. He had a finishing time of 18:18. Overall, the boys’ team took second place at the meet.

“This was his first time winning a high school cross country meet. His leadership and passion show every day,” explained Gauthier.

Grassl grabbed a top-three spot in third behind Miller. He had a finishing time of 19:30 and collected a medal.
Miller (Colin) crossed the line less than a minute later in eighth place, with a 20:08 time.

Manriques finished directly behind Miller in ninth to collect the fourth medal. He ended at 20:12.

Freshman Ryan McGrath finished strong as well by clocking a time of 20:59.

Senior Griffin Beyer pushed through and battled adversity in the morning despite not being 100%, according to the coaching staff. He ended at 21:40.

For the girls’, Huber led the Eagles with a third-place finish. The freshman runner ended her day at 23:14.
Ritter followed that up with a fifth-place finish, with her time of 23:22. Senior Ava Gaetano and freshman Courtney Archuleta finished with times of 26:53 and 28:47, respectively.

Running local

Ryleigh Thompson and Huber led the girls’ team to a fourth-place finish last week at the Three Lakes Invite at Big Stone Golf Course in Three Lakes. Thompson and Huber finished third and 16th, respectively, helping the Eagles to 84 team points. That was just 11 points shy of Three Lakes-Phelps with 73.

The boys’ team took fifth overall with 112 points and held a comfortable cushion ahead of sixth-place finisher and conference foe Antigo. Senior Ethan Miller finished strong to take fifth place.

The Great Northern Conference girls’ field will remain strong for quite some time, as eight of the 10 top finishers were from GNC teams and seven of the runners are either freshmen or sophomores. Northland Pines’ Thompson has chased Lakeland sophomore Emerson Rubo and freshman Lydia Pritchard for much of the season and has attempted to close the gap between them. Thompson picked up another top-10 finish with her time of 20:14.4. Pritchard held a second-place time of 20:03.9.

Huber was the next Eagles runner to cross the finish line, posting a strong 23:08.4 to place 16th. Emily Ritter finished three spots behind her teammate in 19th place, and ended with a time of 23:51.

Chicka and Archuleta ended their Three Lakes Invite with times of 26:40.3 and 27:28.4.

For the boys’, Miller once again podiumed with his fifth-place finish behind Three Lakes’ Nolan Waltz and three Lakeland runners. Miller ran a sub-18 minute time at 17:58.9. He was just one of four other sub-18 minute times in the boys’ race.

Grassl and Miller finished 18th and 25th, respectively, for the Eagles and grabbed times of 18:44 and 19:48.
A large group of runners finished around the 20:30 mark of the race, which is where Manriquez and McGrath finished. Manriquez clocked a time of 20:28 for 32nd and McGrath had a strong day at 20:57 for 41st.
Beyer rounded out the Eagles with his time of 22:24.

Pines will be back out on the course later this week in Medford on Thursday, Oct. 1, starting at 5 p.m.