The International Falls girls cross country team finished runner-up to Roseau in Thursday’s meet hosted by the Rams.

Roseau won with 33 points, followed by the Falls (49), Warroad (50), West Marshall (109) and Thief River Falls (140) as the five teams with enough runners to score in the team standings.

“This was a good early season meet for our girls,” said Broncos head coach Paul Hjelle. “Roseau and Warroad both have strong teams. Our spread needs to improve, and it will as we have more meets.”

Three of Falls’ girls runners finished in the top 10 with the top individual finish coming from freshman Lexi Erickson, who completed the 4,000-meter course in 15 minutes, 45 seconds, for second place.

Senior teammate Sydney Raboin was 7 seconds behind Erickson to come in third, while senior Amy Auran was 10th in 18:01.

“We all improved our times and had a good day,” Erickson said. “The weather was a little hot. Overall, the meet went really well and I’m excited for the rest of the season.”

The Broncos’ two other runners who counted for the team’s score were senior Lexi Owen, 13th in 18:37, and junior Jenna Anderson, 23rd in 20:10.

FHS boys third

In the boys competition, the Broncos came in third out of the five teams with at least five finishers to count in the standings.

Roseau came in first at 24, followed by Thief River Falls (75), the Falls (103), East Grand Forks (114) and Warroad (126).

The Broncos’ top runner was senior Wyatt Ulrich, who completed the 5,000-meter course in 19:42 for seventh place.

“(Thursday) was really impressing for the boys,” Ulrich said. “We all pushed ourselves to stay together. For only the second meet we improved much since the start. Even though it was hot, we got through it.”

Falls’ other varsity boys finishers included: Billy Brokaw, 18th in 22:28; Ben Erickson, 22nd in 22:43; Gary Harala, 27th in 23:16; and Eric Mathews, 29th in 23:21.

The Broncos will be back in action Monday at a meet in Warroad.