The Big Lake girls cross-country team finished 10th at the St. Michael-Albertville  Invitational last Thursday.

Ninth-grader Shay France led the varsity girls with a 41st-place finish in 21:26.

Hazel Guldseth was next in 72nd in 23:46. Elsie Jagusch (76th, 24:24) and Clara Devine (77th, 24:39) ran together. Ainsley McGuire ran her fastest time of the year (78th, 25:51) to close out the scoring. Chloe Howe (79th, 26:20) and Aubri Judge (80th, 27:59) were the sixth and seventh Big Lake finishers. The girls placed 10th overall in a deep and talented field.

“This was definitely a step up in competition for the girls,” said Coach Trutna. “This is a very young team and races like this can show the team what is possible with a couple more years of hard work.”

The boys varsity  placed 11th overall in a loaded field.  On another warm and humid afternoon, the Hornets went up against one of the toughest fields of the season, with several ranked AAA programs and individual standouts in the mix.

Theo Johnson had one of his better times of the season and led the team with a 37th-place finish in 17:38, with Jack Schmidt close behind in 41st in 17:43.

Gavin Flavin (61st, 18:13), Trent Erickson (66th,18:23), and Eli Henning (79th,19:07) completed the five scorers.

Max Baron (82nd, 19:17) and Eli Schaller (87th, 19:57) were the sixth and seventh finishers for Big Lake.

“Overall the boys varsity had a rough day in the heat. It’s been a tough couple weeks of training and heat,” said Coach Todd Trutna. “I think it caught up to us a bit today. As we begin to taper for the end of the season soon, we hope to see all the runners return to form.”

The Hornets ran at Princeton this past week, results next week. They compete in the Mississippi 8 Conference meet Tuesday at St. Francis.