VALLEY CITY — Earlier last week, Hillsboro-Central Valley cross country coach Kirk Zink said defending state champion Reagan Baesler was only in midseason form coming off a hip injury.

Well, Baesler not at full strength was still better than the rest of the field here Saturday, Oct. 28, at the North Dakota Class B high school cross country meet.

Baesler repeated as individual girls state champion. In the process, the sophomore led Hillsboro-Central Valley to its seventh consecutive state championship.

Hillsboro-CV won with 96 points. Watford City was second with 108. Rounding out the top five were Rugby (148), New Town (261) and Hatton-Northwood-Thompson (286).

Baesler had a winning time of 18 minutes, 27.5 seconds to runner-up Kayla Ogle of Watford City’s 18:59.5.

“Reagan was probably 75 to 80 percent of her top physical shape,” Zink said. “She’s an athlete. But it’s also a mental thing. She steps up in big meets. And today was the biggest one this season.

“Last year, there were a lot of girls who had a chance to win. This year, there was more pressure on her as the defending champion.”

The Burros also received top-20 finishes from Jensyn Zink (fourth) and Gracie Wright (18th). Wright was named senior athlete of the year. It marked the seventh straight season H-CV had three top-20 finishers at the state meet.

“The day went well,” Kirk Zink said. “We felt we were underdogs. Watford City and Rugby have loaded teams with some really good young runners. It was nice to see our kids step up when it matters most.”

Other area girls with top-20 finishes included Hatton-Northwood-Thompson’s Lana Krack (third), Griggs County Central’s Mikayla Koenig (sixth), Langdon-Edmore-Munich’s Elise Ramberg (ninth), Mayville-Portland-CG’s Ahna Mehus (11th) and Grafton’s Carlie Sieben (19th).

New Town

boys repeat

New Town had the top two runners and six of the top 17 in repeating as Class B boys champion.

Jaiven Hale and Robert White of New Town placed 1-2, respectively. They were joined in the top 20 by teammates Jalen Chase (fourth), Daniel Lebeau (seventh), Ricardo Chase (15th) and Colby Antell (17th).

New Town won with 29 points, followed by Hillsboro-Central Valley (123) and Hatton-Northwood-Thompson (159). Colton Anderson finished sixth and Chase Fossum ninth to lead H-CV.

“Our boys had a terrific race,” Zink said. “Chase hasn’t been in the top 10 in the state coaches’ poll all season.”

Other area top-20 finishers were Hatton-Northwood-Thompson’s Jacob Hendrickson (fifth) and Pierce Cooper (16th), and Pembina County North’s Jayden Wheeling (11th) and Hunter Denault (18th).