VELVA - The first two girls to cross the finish line at the Mouse River Meet on Thursday know each other very well.
Freshman Abi Waloch was followed closely by Southern McLean senior teammate Keisha Schock. The two finished with times of 15 minutes, 47.81 seconds and 15:49.18, respectively, ahead of the field's other 64 competitors.
Minot High senior Sam Huether led for much of the 2.48-mile race but was passed a little more than halfway around the Star City Golf Course path. Huether finished fourth (16:07.68) behind Williston's Olivia Larsen (15:54.31) and just ahead of Surrey sophomore Allison Klein (16:07.70).
But nobody stopped Waloch from getting her first win at a varsity meet. She said her goal entering the race was to finish with a sub-17-minute time. She beat that barrier with more than a minute to spare.
"I'm very pleased with the way I ran," she said. "It was a flatter course than my previous one that I ran last week (a third-place finish in Jamestown). I was very pleased."
Minot won the meet, compiling a score of 94 among the top-five finishers. In addition to Huether, senior Clare Super (13th), freshman Meg Super (15th), junior Emma Sandy (30th) and sophomore Delaney Huss (32nd) also scored for the Majettes.
Huether, who finished first in last week's Mint Rabbit Run, said she thought she started too quickly.
"I think I just went out too fast and I couldn't hold it throughout the race," she said. "It's a lesson learned. I still want to go out fast, but not as fast."
Williston dominates
Sophomore Shiloh Christian athlete Elliott Stone was the only thing that stood in the way from a Williston High sweep in the boys meet.
Coyotes senior Chris Chamberlin won the meet with a time of 16:53.67 seconds in the 3.1-mile race. Williston junior Brennan Goldade finished second with in 17:07.42. Stone (17:11.53), Williston sophomore Devan Shumway (17:12.92) and juniors Jacob Oleksik (17:13.83) and Quinn Wahlstrom (17:18.59) rounded out the top six.
"We kinda thought maybe we could be up there," said Coyotes coach Clint Chamberlin, Chris Chamberlin's father. "We were just going to try to run together and get a pretty tough pace and push it."
Williston's 18 total team points - only three more than a perfect 15 - easily bested Minot, which finished in second with 61.
Junior Andrew Beach paced the Magicians. He finished in seventh with a time of 17:19.19.
"I think I ran pretty well," Beach said. "We stayed with the pack, which was (sophomore) Chris (Stock) and I's main goal. We saw the Williston pack coming up, we decided to stay with them and it worked out really well."
Stock finished in ninth place with a time of 17:32.11. Juniors Billy Sartwell (12th, Dylan Ellis (14th) and Jordan Krill (19th) also scored for the Magicians.
NOTE: Minot High boys cross country coach Aaron Klinbeil said the girls loop was 60-70 meters short of the regular 3,000 meters.