International Falls finishes sixth at home at Hial Pike Invitational
The Broncos are booming with confidence thanks to a late-season surge to the finish line. Gap times have been closing for weeks and there was little disappointment Thursday with a sixth-place finish in the 43rd Hial Pike Invitational at the Falls Country Club.
“We got sixth, but none of them were from our section, so it doesn’t matter,” Broncos sophomore Amber Harms said.
Harms led the Broncos with a team-best, 21st-place finish with a time of 16 minutes, 37.67 seconds. Amy Auran was right on her heels in 23rd in 16:48.67.
“They’re coming on at the right time,” Broncos head coach Paul Hjelle said. “I think we’re going to be OK at sections with that team.”
Sydney Raboin finished 28th in 17:06.76, Rachel Foss was 31st in 17:17.57 and Shelby Wolden rounded out the varsity score with a 38th place in 17:36.52.
“They’ve improved a lot since our first meet in Babbitt,” Hjelle said. “It takes time to gel as a team and they’re coming on at the right time. And it’s exciting, cause we haven’t had that in a long time now.”
Grand Rapids won the meet with a 70, followed by Roseau (90), Warroad (102), Hibbing (115), Lake of the Woods (124), International Falls (130), Virginia (164), Ely (179), Mesabi East (225), Trek North (261) and Dryden (285). Only 11 of the 15 teams posted team scores.
Other Broncos competing in the 96-participant varsity field were Bailey Bernard (50th, 18:19.4), Paige Boyum (69th, 19:06.78), Megan Schwartz (71st, 19:25.99), Sierra Ruelle (75th, 19:54.7), Alicia Hendrickson (84th, 21:06.38) and Kelsey Eibler (86th, 21:20.63).
“We’re really improving our gap times, which is great,” Harms said.
Esko is expected to dominate the Section 7A Championships in Cloquet, but there isn’t a favorite for second place, which also qualifies for the state meet.
Meet notes
• Lake of the Woods’ Victoria Alexander cruised to an easy first-place finish in 15:09.88. Second was Mesabi East’s Megan West, who finished in 15:35.62.
• There were a handful of coaches with local ties. Dan Pullar (FHS ’73) heads the program in Hibbing, and Dick Ostroot is one of his assistants. Ostroot took charge of the Hial Pike Invitational in its second year back in 1968, when Ostroot was hired as a teacher in International Falls. He coordinated the meet through the 1993 season. “There aren’t many years I wasn’t involved with it,” he said.
Rick McBride was in attendance as head coach of the Warroad program. He’s retiring after this school year, but he still plans to continue coaching. Littlefork-Big Falls graduate Lindsey Imhof was also back at the Falls Country Club — where she worked for years — as an assistant coach at Mesabi East.
• Maria Lewis was the lone participant from Indus in the varsity race, and she finished 90th in 21:49.18.
• Four teams recorded team scores in the junior high race — AlBrook (48), Hibbing (50), Grand Rapids (53) and Virginia (61).
