The boys reclaimed the West Central Conference North championship with Thursday's victory on Cathedral's home turf. Five of Paynesville's runners came out of the day with all-conference honors: Clayton Lang, Adam Utsch, Dan Pearson, Jesse Rien, and Eric Korman.Four of the five all-conference winners ran as a pack at an earlier meet. Left to right are Dan Pearson, Jessie Rien, Adam Utsch, and Clayton Lang.
Clayton Lang contended for the first place position with rival Will Enns of LPGE. At times in the race, Lang pulled away from Enns, but Enns was able to regain the ground and edged Lang by seconds in the final meters of the race. Lang's time of 16:43 put him more than thirty seconds ahead of the third place runner.
Adam Utsch also set the pace for the nearest competitor, and finished in fourth place in 17:15 on the heels of Cathedral's first runner.
Dan Pearson and Jesse Rien once again pushed each other throughout the race. Pearson finished 7th in 17:29, and Rien came in 9th in 17:33. "I was a little bit surprised at how Cathedral ran," said Pearson. "They mixed with our runners more than I thought they would, but we were always one position ahead of them."
Paynesville's fifth runner was Eric Korman, who finished 13th in 18:45. "The times were really tight from about sixth to sixteenth place. A lot of runners crossed the line in a very short amount of time," said Korman.
Ryan Flanders and Travis Flanders pulled in 20th and 21st. The team's current goal is to win the subsection (which was held on Tuesday), which would require strong performances from all seven runners.
Next on the schedule is the section meet which will be held at NL-S on Thursday, Oct. 26, where the Bulldogs will face some of the toughest competition in the state. It promises to be one of the most exciting meets of the season. Come and check out the action!
Team standings
1. Paynesville -35
2. Cathedral -40
3. Albany -81
4. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle -103
5. Sauk Centre -116
6. Litchfield -160
Individual results
2. Clayton Lang -16:43
4. Adam Utsch -17:15
7. Dan Pearson -17:29
9. Jesse Rien -17:33
13. Eric Korman -18:45
20. Ryan Flanders -18:33
21. Travis Flanders -18:35
JV results
1. Scott Thompson -18:33
8. Riley Flanders --19:16
10. Tom Flannigan 19:17
13. Fred Stock -19:27
27. Jason Wendroth -20:27
57. Andrew Jones -22:54
Junior High
5. Matt Mehr -12:23
14. Chris Utsch -13:53