VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- The Hillsboro-Central Valley girls cross country team had a bad feeling entering the North Dakota Class B girls state meet Saturday.
The Burros haven't had the best history running races at Valley City's Bjornson Park Golf Course. But that didn't stop them from earning their third consecutive state team title.
"The girls seemed to think that it wasn't going to be good racing the state meet here this year," Hillsboro-Central Valley coach Kirk Zink said. "They got a bad omen in their heads because this course hasn't been the best for us, but I thought all our girls ran well."
The Burros scored a 94 to beat runner-up Killdeer by 58 points.
Junior Annika Rotvold paced H-CV, finishing third with a time of 15 minutes, 15.5 seconds. The Burros also received top-20 finishes from eighth-grader Gracie Wright (eighth, 15:44.3) and junior Shayla Fossum (14th, 15:57.0).
ADVERTISEMENT
"Having three runners in Annika, Gracie and Shayla near the top and scoring low was big," said Zink, who was named Class B girls coach of year. "It made a huge difference because Killdeer is a solid team, but only one of its runners finished in the top 20."
The Burros become the first girls team to win three consecutive Class B championships since Bowman in 2003-05.
"Our team raced well and we really wanted it," said Rotvold, who recorded a personal-best time Saturday. "We all came together and it feels good to know we all were able to race our best at the final meet of the year."
Other area girls with top-20 finishes were: Cailee Peterson, Mayville-Portland-CG, fifth; Ashley Perez, Dakota Prairie, sixth; Mackenzie Holkesvig, Hatton-Northwood-Thompson, seventh; Madison Gapp, Langdon, 10th; and Claire Brien, Rolla, 13th
Class A girls
Grand Forks Central's Karly Ackley placed fifth to earn all-state honors.
Bismarck High won the team title with 55 points. Bismarck Century, behind individual winner Jordan Jacob, was runner-up with 61 points. Rounding out the top five teams were Fargo Davies (85), Dickinson (124) and Central (133).
Grand Forks Red River's top finisher was Ashley Conneran, who placed 25th. The Roughriders were 12th (283) in the team race.
ADVERTISEMENT
Class A boys
Grand Forks Central had a pair of top-20 finishers who earned all-state honors.
Camron Roehl was a repeat all-stater, placing fourth. Teammate Leif Larsen placed 12th.
Bismarck's Matt Gotta and Sam Clausnitzer finished first and second, respectively, leading the Demons to a repeat team title with 29 points. Fargo Davies (88) was second, followed by Minot (124) and Central (159).
Grand Forks Red River, which finished 10th (309), was led by Ty Boucher, who finished 43rd.
Class B boys
Grafton's Josh Thompson was the top area finisher. The Spoiler placed eighth.
Other area top-20 finishers were Jalen Larock, Four Winds-Minnewaukan (1th) and three-time all-stater Tim Clifton, Griggs County Central (14th).
ADVERTISEMENT
New Town, with three of the top nine finishers, won the team title with 45 points, followed by Beulah-Hazen (139) and Griggs County Central (180). Elliot Stone of Shiloh Christian was the individual winner.
