Rugby senior Hannah Senechal punctuated her career by becoming the program’s first runner to earn six total all-state honors, cementing her spot in the history books with a 15th-place finish at the Class B XC State Meet at the Parkhurst Campground and Pipestem Reservoir in Jamestown on Friday, Oct. 24.

Freshman Allie Monroe joined her teammate by picking up her first all-state designation by placing 18th as the Panthers finished fourth among the 55-team field with 152 points. Rugby’s scorers placed 15th, 18th, 25th, 46th and 48th. Senechal crossed the finish line in 20 minutes, 17.1 seconds, while Monroe was six seconds behind her, finishing in 20:23.4.

“I can’t say enough about Hannah Senechal,” Rugby coach Bill Jansen said. “She finished it off. She’s the first girl we’ve ever had that’s been all-state all six years. It was fun to watch that last race and fun to see her. I know she’s not happy with her race. She would have much rather finished higher as all of them would have. I don’t think any of them would say it was a great race. But finishing off a six-year stretch and not having anything get in her way is just phenomenal.”

Hillsboro/Central Valley defended its state title by the thinnest of margins. The Burros and Bowman County both finished with 61 points, but H/CV took home the title on the sixth-runner tiebreaker. Azlynn Johnson placed 34th for the Burros, besting the Bulldogs’ sixth runner – Abigail Burke – who finished 42nd. The state title is H/CV’s eighth as a co-op and Hillsboro’s ninth, as it claimed a solo state title in 2011 before beginning the co-op the following year.

H/CV also laid claim to the individual state champion, with Claire Grinde winning her second consecutive title over teammate Caroline Anderson. Grinde won the race in 18:29.2, finishing 20 seconds ahead of her teammate. Grinde joins Reagan Baesler as H/CV runners who have claimed multiple individual state titles. Baseler won four consecutive titles from 2016-19.

Killdeer and Bottineau finished sandwiched in between Rugby at third and fifth with 146 and 201 points. Seven of the top 10 runners were represented by H/CV, Bowman County and Killdeer.

“The girls ran really well and only got beat by six (for third place), which is nice but a little bit sad of course because one person can make that up pretty quick,” Jansen said. “Killdeer had a nice race and the top two was exciting. Anytime you have a state title won on a tiebreaker in anything, it’s kind of cool. Bowman County had a really good race. They put their top girls pretty close together and that gave them a chance. They had a really nice meet.”

Three-time state champion Brynn Hanson of Des Lacs-Burlington finished off her career by placing fourth in 19:26.3. The Lakers placed in the top 10 as a team, coming in ninth. Hanson was named the Class B Girls Senior Athlete of the Year

Junior Evyn Jacobson just missed out on all-state honors for the Panthers by placing 25th in 20:56.3.

Bishop Ryan sophomore Sage Feininger was the other local runner to make the all-state squad with a 16th-place finish, completing the race in 20:18.6.

H/CV’s Kirk Zink was named Class B Girls Coach of the Year.

On the boys side, a sixth-place finish looks good on paper in a field of 61 teams, but there wasn’t much celebration to be found from the Panthers according to Jansen. The Panthers were coming off their best race of the year at the East Regional Championships, taking second and moving into the state rankings at No. 4. But Rugby finished behind both Shiloh Christian and Hillsboro/Central Valley – two teams they were ahead of in the rankings.

Brayden Green was Rugby’s top runner, placing 34th in 18:28.4. The Panthers’ scorers finished in 34th, 49th, 69th, 75th and 90th.

“Brayden ran a really nice race at regional and then his side ache kind of hit him again early in this race. I give him credit. He gutted it out and was our top runner, but he’s not even close to a mid-18s runner; he’s a mid-to-low-17 runner. If he’s even a mid-17s runner he’s 13th, 14th, 15th place, so I know he’s disappointed.”

As it has all season, Bowman County dominated the meet, running away with the team title for a sixth consecutive season and 21st in program history. The Bulldogs top three runners finished 2-4, led by Warner Bowman. Jonah Njos was unable to win his third straight individual title, but finished third. He was also named the Class B Boys Senior Athlete of the Year.

Northern Cass senior Owen Johnson won his first state title, winning the race in 15:44.4. He finished more than 30 seconds clear of Bowman.

Bishop Ryan sophomore Gryphen Leier-Wangler earned all-state honors with a 10th-place finish.

Bottineau and Kenmare-Bowbells finished in the top 15 as a team, with the Stars taking eighth and the Honkers claiming 12th.

Bowman County coach Jon Jahner was named Class B Boys Coach of the Year.

Jansen expects the results of this year’s state meet to provide fuel heading into the offseason and next season.

“I know the boys aren’t happy,” Jansen said. “They’re disappointed. But we have all the boys coming back. That hopefully will burn in them for next year and we’ll get after it next year and be in better shape and be stronger and all those things coming into the season.”