N.D. state cross country meet: Rugby's Kraft wins B girls title

JAMESTOWN, N.D. -- Rugby's Sydney Kraft finished 13th in the North Dakota state Class B girls cross country meet in 2007.

With more pressure on her this year, going in as the top-ranked runner, Kraft picked it up a few notches.

Kraft won the individual title going away. The freshman finished in 15 minutes, 37.24 seconds. Sibee Jokela of Watford City placed second in 15:49.44.

"She has had a real solid season, especially the last half of the season," Rugby coach Bill Jansen said of Kraft. "She's not new to cross country. She was 13th last year, but she's new to this level, having a target on your back."

Jansen said Kraft handled the target well.

"We tried to get her to not stress out about the race -- just train hard and let the race take care of itself. . . . As her performance showed today, she handled it really well."

The top area finisher was Griggs County Central junior Maggie Moen, who was third in 16:05.34.

"She ran people down the second half of the race," Griggs County Central coach Rick Anderson said. "Halfway through the race, she was still 11th or 12th. She's got a lot of talent. And we knew that coming into the season.

"She just finally started rounding into shape. She's not a summer runner."

Grafton's Nicole Woinarowicz (sixth) and Griggs County Central's Taylor Palmer (ninth) also made all-state. Palmer finished in the top 10 for the third year in a row.

New Town won the team title with 87 points. Minot Ryan was second with 116. Grafton was fifth with 182 and Griggs County Central sixth with 187.

Woinarowicz is

athlete of year

Woinarowicz, who was state runner-up in 2007, finished strong during an injury-plagued season.

She won the Class B girls senior athlete of the year award.

"She did great compared to where she was a few weeks ago," Grafton coach Jeff McKay said. "She didn't run all week."

A quad injury made for an up-and-down season. But Woinarowicz finished strong.

"She was able to get out right away," McKay said.

Class A boys

Bismarck High's Joash Osoro repeated as individual champion.

Osoro cruised to the title, running the course in 15:57.66. Teammate Devin Huizenga finished in 16:28.71.

Grand Forks had one all-state runner. Central sophomore Shane Harlow placed 19th in 17:24.91.

"He just raced hard from the beginning," Central coach Sean Allan said. "We wanted to get him in the top 20. And Tom Fisher finished 26th, just out of all-state. He ran a great race for a freshman."

Red River sophomore Francis Mendee came across 32nd but was disqualified for cutting a corner on the course. Alex Bakken paced the Roughriders, finishing 61st.

"I'm sure it was unintentional, but I know it happened," Red River coach Chris Douthit said of Mendee's disqualification. "I saw it. It's unfortunate, but when you compete, we know the rules going in. Francis feels bad about it, and we certainly feel bad about it."

Bismarck won the team title with 34 points. Central was seventh with 173 and Red River 13th with 449.

Osoro is the senior athlete of the year.

Class A girls

It was a duel of two talented freshmen.

West Fargo freshman Alissa Mears won the girls individual title in 14:46.22, just ahead of Fargo South's Tarin Lachowitzer (14:51.02), also a freshman.

Minot's Brecca Wahlund was third in 15:00.87.

"It's how she's run all season, is to get out and get it right away," West Fargo coach Joe Bailey said of Mears. "Those other couple of girls held on pretty well. Usually she's able to keep pulling away, but today the race wasn't over until the last 15 yards or so."

Lauren McMillan paced Grand Forks Central with a 37th-place finish. McMillan ran a 16:22.37.

Red River's top finisher was Erin McLeod, who was 64th in 16:56.42.

Bismarck High's Sarah Feeney is the senior athlete of the year.