The No. 2-A ranked Perham boys cross country team finished their regular season in style Monday night with a 1^st place finish at the Park Rapids Invitational.  The Jackets had all 7 runners in the top-19, and the 5 scoring runners all in the top-13 to finish with 25 points.  Detroit Lakes was 2^nd with 58, followed by Pelican Rapids in 3^rd with 142.

“Today both the boys and girls had just awesome races,” Perham head coach Jeff Morris said.  “The boys showed today in a big way they are ready to take it up a notch.”

Perham’s 1-2 punch of Brady Speicherand Nick Carignanfinished in 1^st and 2^nd place, respectively.  Speicher won his 2^nd race of the season with a personal best time of 16:42, followed by Carignan in 16:49. 

“He (Brady) just continues to look more and more confident,” Morris said. “Brady and Nick have the ability to run with the best individuals in the state and are starting to believe it.”

The Jackets next two runners, Dalton Dahmsand Jayden Cullen, finished in 4^th and 5^th place.  Dahms had a time of 17:04, with Cullen close behind in 17:05.  The team’s final scoring runner was Billy Besemanin 13^th place with a time of 17:31.

Not far back were Mark Huebsch(17^th, 17:44) and Kanyon Edvall(19^th, 17:48), who both set personal best times, and Chris Knutson(21^st, 17:52).

Keeghan Hurleywas the J.V. race winner in 16:21, leading the Perham boys to the J.V. team title.

Perham’s next event will be the Section 8A Meet on Friday, Oct. 28 in Bagley starting at 4 p.m.  The Jackets are the defending 8A and Class A State Champs, and have advanced to State 9-straight years.  The top-2 team’s from the Section Meet advance to State.

The Lakers had one top-10 runner in Wes Bakken, who finished 6^th in 17:07, but they had 5 runners finish between 11^th and 16^th.  They will compete next at the Section 8AA Meet in Cold Spring on Oct. 27.