The Laker girls' cross country team earning top honors included Riley Bevan, Makenzie Benedict, Jordyn Nevin, Keely Mohling, Sara Gastony, Malin Everson, and Talia Bushman. Not pictured is Belle Reinders.
The Prior Lake High School varsity girls cross-country team took first in the South Suburban Conference for the fifth year in a row while competing in the Oct. 10 meet.
The varsity team finished with 56 points, placing five runners in the top 20 finishers. Farmington placed second, followed by Lakeville North in third, with Eagan and Lakeville South rounding out the top five.
Belle Reinders, McKenzie Benedict, Keeley Mohling, and Jordyn Nevin were the top finishers for Prior Lake and each of the athletes earned All-Conference recognition.
On the varsity boys side, Prior Lake finished in sixth place as a team with strong performances turned in by several runners. Prior Lake placed two runners in the top 20 — Joe Gannon (14) and Isaiah Rock (16) — and both earned All- Conference awards.
The junior varsity boys’ team ran the first race of the day at Eagan High School on the 5, 000-meter course at 10:30 a.m. and finished solidly in the middle at 5th place with 138 points. Ethan Sikkink and Anthony Malinosky were the top two finishers for Laker team.
The Prior Lake junior varsity girls’ team finished in second place behind host Eagan, but it was quite a battle. Scoring for Prior Lake was Layton Vennink, Avery Zwagerman, Madeline Prohaski, Ellen Ray, and Addison Herty. Both teams had many runners in the top 20 of a well-run race.
Prior Lake runners also participated in the Section 2AAA cross country meet held at Gale Woods on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
The Laker girls’ team had three runners who finished in the top 20 in the 5,000-meter run. Sara Gastony placed third, while Isabella Reinders came in sixth and McKenzie Benedict took 18th. The girls earned second place overall in the section meet with Waconia taking first place honors.
The Prior Lake boys’ team also had two teammates placing in the top 20. Isaiah Rock came in 11th, followed by Joe Gannon in 12th. Minnetonka won the boys’ meet, while Prior Lake placed eighth.