The Big Lake boys varsity cross country team took second at the ROCORI Invitational at the River Oaks Golf Course in Cold Spring last Thursday.

Competing without their top runner, Gavin Flavin, who was recovering from illness, the Hornet squad stepped up and finished runner-up to Alexandria in a field of almost 20 teams.

Senior Trent Erickson led the team with a strong eighth-place finish in 17:18. He was followed by Theo Johnson, who also broke the 18-minute barrier and placed 14th in 17:58, with Jack Schmidt a few steps back in 15th in 18:05.

Eli Henning (22nd, 18:41), Max Baron (42nd, 19:20), and Eli Schaller (51st, 19:46) rounded out the team.

Final Team scores were: 1. Alexandria 40; 2. Big Lake 94; 3. Willmar 103; 4. Perham 147; 5. Detroit Lakes 167; 6. Albany 170; 7. Rocori 174; 8. Thief River Falls 182; 9. Little Falls 238; 10. Princeton 253; 11. Foley 265; 12. Breckenridge/ Wahpeton 292; 13. Fergus Falls 298; 14. Sauk Rapids-Rice 393; 15. St. Cloud Tech  415; St. Francis and Fargo South, incomplete.

Girls Squad

The varsity girls finished ninth as a team behind a 30th place finish by ninth-grader Shay France in 22:20.

Big Lake’s 2-3-4 runners ran in a tight pack for most of the race and finished close together. Hazel Guldseth took 47th in 24:02, followed by Elsie Jagusch (51st, 24:14) and Clara Devine (53rd, 24:19).

Ainsley McGuire (69th, 25:58) made a notable move, jumping into the team’s fifth spot for the first time this fall. Chloe Howe (71st, 26:11) and Aubri Judge (74th, 28:13) rounded out the varsity lineup. 

Some more notable results from the meet: Evan Hitter (15th, 20:19) had a breakout race, moving up several spots to finish as Big Lake’s top boys JV runner for the first time this season. And the junior high runners ran the full 3200 meters for the first time this season.

Becker Invite

Gavin Flavin and Shay France each finished second in their 5000 meter races at the Becker Invitational Cross-Country meet at Pebble Creek Golf Course last week.

Flavin came back after missing a meet from illness and led the boys varsity, taking second in 16:34.6.

Trent Erickson also placed in the top 10. He finished ninth in 17:21.3.

Theo Johnson and Jack Schmidt ran close together for most of the race and finished 16th and 18th respectively in 18:01.4 and 18:04.5.

Eli Henning was Big Lake’s fifth finisher in 22nd in 18:32.7. Max Baron (24th, 18:39.5) and Eli Schaller (27th, 19:52.1) were the team’s sixth and seventh runners.

The boys finished fourth in the team standings with 67 points.

Girls Squad

For the girls, ninth-grader Shay France again led the Hornets with a second place finish in 21:15.5.

Clara Devine ran her fastest time of the year as she led a trio of Hornets, running 23:45.5 for 20th place. She was followed by Hazel Guldseth in 21st at 23:58.7 and Elsie Jagusch in 22nd at 24:06.7.

The next three runners for Big Lake were Ainsley McGuire (26th, 26:27.6), Chloe Howe (27th, 26:33.5, and Aubri Judge (28th, 27:26.6).

The girls varsity finished fourth in the team standings with 91 points.

In other races, Avery Jarvi  and Nicholas Erickson had a sprint finish in the JV 5000 meters that saw them both get the same time (20:01.9) as they battled for last spot in the top 10. Jarvi took 10th and Erickson was 11th. Evan Hitter was close behind in 12th at 20:13.4 and Jordan Domka ran 20:31.1 for 15th.

The Hornets competed in a 14-team meet at St. Michael Wednesday, results next week. They run at Princeton Tuesday.