Compared to the last time International Falls’ girls cross country team qualified for the Class A state meet in 2005, the Broncos finished one place lower Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

The Falls, which qualified as an entire team this year by placing runner-up at the Section 7A meet, ended up in 16th place at the 2011 state meet.

“You’ve got the 16 best teams in the state here, so it’s a lot better competition than what we even saw at the Swain meet (in Duluth), which is a lot bigger than this, but you don’t have, necessarily, the quality of teams,” said Broncos head coach Paul Hjelle.

The Falls had 358 points, nearly four times behind the low point total of this year’s state champion at 94, St. Cloud Cathedral, which had placed runner-up a year earlier.

Annandale (118) came in second, while the Section 7A champion, Esko (132), took home the state meet’s third-place hardware.

“The kids did as well as they possibly could,” Hjelle said. “They gave it their best effort, and that’s all we asked of them.”

The Broncos' best individual finish came from sophomore Sydney Raboin, who completed the 4,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 12.2 seconds to place 66th out of 156 runners.

“(The level of competition) was really hard,” Raboin said. “It was a step up from what we’re used to.”

The Blake School’s Clare Flanagan, a sophomore, placed first individually in 14:21.7. Another sophomore, Emi Trost of Cannon Falls, finished second in 14:34.7.

Last year’s Class A state champion and this year’s Section 7A winner, junior Marisa Shady of Esko, ended up in third place in 14:45.5.

While the weather for holding a state cross country meet in Minnesota in early November was seasonably warm with the temperature climbing above 50 degrees, the runners had to deal with heading into a strong breeze for a portion of the race.

“It was a hard race, but everybody was cheering, so it made it a lot better,” Raboin said.

None of the other Falls runners finished in the top 100 individually. The next four Broncos to finish after Raboin included: junior Amber Harms, 103rd in 16:43.1; seventh-grader Lexi Erickson, 108th in 16:49.4; sophomore Amy Auran, 137th in 17:34.7; and junior Rachel Foss, 148th in 18:09.

Of the seven Falls runners in Saturday’s race, only senior captain Kelsey Eibler will be gone from next year’s team due to graduation. Hjelle said the experience of being at this year’s state meet will help the team in 2012.

“They experienced it, now they know what to expect,” he said. “It’s going to do a lot for us.”

Hjelle said the team reached its goal this season of being able to qualify for the state meet.

“We don’t care how we finish as far as the place goes,” Hjelle said. “We weren’t expected to do anything, but we wanted to run for our teammates and give it the best for International Falls, and we’ve done that.”

MSHSL Class A Girls cross country state meet

St. Olaf College, Northfield

Team scores: St. Cloud Cathedral 94, Annandale 118, Esko 132, Blake 138, Waseca 154, United South Central 203, Adrian 211, Holdingford 218, La Crescent 222, Perham 227, Trinity River Ridge 247, Park Rapids 247, Albany 268, Luverne 297, Rochester Lourdes 325, International Falls 358.

Top 10 individuals: 1. Clare Flanagan, Blake, 14:21.7; 2. Emi Trost, Cannon Falls, 14:34.7; 3. Marisa Shady, Esko, 14:45.5; 4. McKenzie Holt, St. Cloud Christian, 14:48.6; 5. Kayla Woltz, Chatfield, 14:57.4; 6. Lydia Lutz, Park Rapids, 15:02.0; 7. Courtney Alama, Annandale, 15:02.6; 8. Tierney Winter, WEM/JWP, 15:09.1; 9. Meghan Henriksen, Mankato Loyola, 15:10.3; 10. Lauren Friese, Fairmont, 15:12.8.

International Falls runners: 66. Sydney Raboin, 16:12.2; 103. Amber Harms, 16:43.1; 108. Lexi Erickson, 16:49.4; 137. Amy Auran, 17:34.7; 148. Rachel Foss, 18:09.0; 155. Shelby Wolden, 18:50.6; 156. Kelsey Eibler, 20:34.0.