Members of the Section 4AAA champion Stillwater boys cross country team include, front row, from left, Dylan Riniker, Evan Goddard and Will DeGonda.
Second row, Logan Liveringhouse, Ryan Kilibarda, Mason Foster, Andrew Walsh and Ethan Foote.
Max Gerald is missing from the photo. (Photo by Brad Dixon) Members of the Section 4AAA champion Stillwater boys cross country team include, front row, from left, Dylan Riniker, Evan Goddard and Will DeGonda.
Second row, Logan Liveringhouse, Ryan Kilibarda, Mason Foster, Andrew Walsh and Ethan Foote.
Max Gerald is missing from the photo. (Photo by Brad Dixon) ST.
PAUL , There were no major surprises and that was a good thing for the fifth-ranked Stillwater boys cross country team, which cruised to the Section 4AAA championship on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the St.
Paul Highland Park Nine-Hole Golf Course.
The Ponies scored 21 points to easily outdistance second-place Woodbury (60) and third-place White Bear Lake in the seven-team field.
It marks the 11th section championship in the past 13 seasons for Stillwater, which will be competing at state for the 32nd time since 1976.
As the runner-up, the Royals earned that program’s first trip to state since placing 16th at state in its only previous appearance in 2000.
The state meet will take place on Saturday, Nov. 5 at St.
Olaf College in Northfield, with the Class AAA boys race scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m.
It wasn’t a flawless performance for the Ponies, who won for the sixth time in eight races this fall, but it didn’t need to be. “I told them (Tuesday), I could start making up lies saying we have a chance to lose,” Ponies coach Scott Christensen said. “The thing in sports is you never know what is going to happen, but I said if it even resembles a cross country meet we’re going to be just fine. “We had a good meet, but I knew we’d have a good meet.
It was not a perfect meet , we’re not there yet , but a pretty good meet.” The Ponies occupied five of the top seven spots in the race.
Sophomore Dylan Riniker set the pace for the balanced Ponies while finishing second in a time of 15:56.97, followed by teammates Ryan Kilibarda (16:03.04), Ethan Foote (16:14.30) and Will DeGonda (16:17.56) in third through fifth place.
Mason Foster, who joins Foote as the only returning runners from last year’s section lineup, completed the scoring in seventh place with a time of 17:27.41.
Andrew Walsh also produced a strong race while placing 10th in a time of 16:37.56. “Dylan Riniker has to be one of the top sophomores in the state by now,” Christensen said. “Last year he was just a guy that was on a team and now he’s one of the top sophomores in the state.
I thought Ethan made a lot of courageous moves out there and I also thought Andy Walsh ran very well.” White Bear Lake’s Luke Williams claimed the individual title with a winning time of 15:43.09. “Luke is definitely the best runner in the section,” Christensen said. “We could race 10 times and Luke would win 10 times.
The right guy won, the right team won, so there’s not a lot of news here.” Stillwater has been climbing in the rankings all season after entering the season with a largely inexperienced team after graduating five of the seven runners who contributed to a seventh-place finish at state last fall.
The coach was hoping for slightly more at the section meet. “When you’re amongst the top five in the state it’s about momentum and I did not want to lose momentum tonight,” Christensen said. “I thought we lost a little momentum tonight.
When your first guy becomes your fourth guy and your fifth drifts back a little bit , I know I should just relax and shut up and enjoy it, but I just can’t do it. “It just wasn’t perfect.
I’m looking for perfect, and it just wasn’t.
There was a little gap that showed up way too early in the race.
I just couldn’t let today go by, I had to be coaching at the end.
It was a race and we ran it and we won it, now it’s on to the next thing.
This was certainly not our end goal, not by a long shot.” The high expectations are nothing new for the coach or the program.
The section championship was the 59th overall for Christensen, including 31 in cross country and 28 in track and field. “I’m happy with the team and I like the team a lot,” said Christensen, now in his 42nd season leading the Ponies. “It’s a cool team and they listen to every word I say.
The culture is fantastic, but we’re not quite there yet.
It’s easy to get 90 percent at anything, just show up and have a heartbeat, but most people give up in the last 10 percent.
We’re about one percent now and you have to just keep driving.” The only teams to defeat the Ponies this season are second-ranked Lakeville North and third-ranked Rosemount.
Wayzata is ranked No. 1 in the state.
Christensen is hoping the team can take another step forward before the season ends. “There’s no point in even talking about other teams,” Christensen said. “We have no control over the other teams or the weather or anything else except our fitness, our effort and our attitude and we need seven guys with an A-plus effort.
We have to have an A-plus race.
Now in 1997 , the year we won by a 101 points , we didn’t need an A-plus race by every kid.
This year we need an A-plus race and that’s the only thing we have control over.” Team standings 1.
Stillwater 21; 2.
Woodbury 60; 3.
White Bear Lake 64; 4.
St.
Paul Central 108; 5.
Tartan 136; 6.
Cretin-Derham Hall 170; 7.
St.
Paul Harding 210; North St.
Paul, inc.
Top 5 1.
Luke Williams (WBL) 15:43.09; 2.
Dylan Riniker (St) 15:56.97; 3.
Ryan Kilibarda (St) 16:03.04; 4.
Ethan Foote (St) 16:14.30; 5.
Will DeGonda (St) 16:17.56.
Stillwater results 2.
Dylan Riniker 15:56.97; 3.
Ryan Kilibarda 16:03.04; 4.
Ethan Foote 16:14.30; 5.
Will DeGonda 16:17.56; 7.
Mason Foster 17:27.41; 10.
Andrew Walsh 16:37.56; 20.
Max Gerald 17:29.76.
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