Perham Claims Historic Dual Minnesota Class A Title Trifecta

On a cold, cloudy day in Northfield, the boys and girls program of Perham completed a never before accomplished feat in the history of Minnesota high school cross country. Both teams met the predictions of most across the state and earned the 2019 Minnesota Class A state titles, the third straight for each squad. No school in any class has ever won three straight concurrent boys and girls championships.

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Girls Class A Team Recap

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The Yellowjacket girls bettered runner-up Luverne by 35 points, winning with 103, despite the Cardinals having an edge in the first two scoring slots. Perham truly took a team victory, winning without an individual in the overall top ten. After being behind 25-13 through the top two runners, Perham posted a 125-78 advantage over the last three scorers to earn the state title. Freshman Liz Birkeland was 14th overall and tenth among scoring athletes.

They were the only team in the field to have four scorers in the top 22 and also had the lowest scoring fifth runner (37th) in the meet over 62 second split that produced a 19:50 average. When examined further, Perham's fourth runner (22nd) finished better than all but two competing team's second runner. Eighth grader Aspen Rohde was 15th in the team score, followed freshman Mya Morris (19), freshman Quincy Anderson (22) and eighth grader Kaia Starlz (37) rounding out the scoring five. Freshman Lauryn Rustad and Senior Abby Tweeton were the final two competitors for Perham's third straight title team. 

Since Minnesota moved the girls race distance to 5000 meters in 2015, Perham has won four of the five state championships. After winning the first 5k distance state title race, they were second to Fairmont in 2016.

Luverne was second with 138 points, led by third place individual (2nd team score) sophomore Tenley Nelson. The Cardinals average was just five seconds behind Perham but a split of over two minutes was simply too big to hang with the Yellowjackets. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted ended up third with 154 points, led by no. 11 overall finisher senior Gracie Mallak. Murray County Central-Fulda was fourth led by individual state champ Morgan Gehl, followed by fifth place Staples-Motley with 171 points. Staples-Motley was led by sixth place individual eighth grader Kyanna Burton.

GIRLS CLASS A INDIVIDUAL RECAP

From the gun to the tape Murray County Central-Fulda junior Morgan Gehl powered away from most of the field for the class A state title by a 23 second margin over runner-up freshman Jade Rypkema of Nevis. About 2k into the race Gehl and Zumbrota-Mazeppa/Kenyon-Wanamingo freshman Natasha Sortland had build a 50m lead over the chase pack. Sortland dropped out of the race after 3k and Gehl never backed down or showed any weakness surging down the final 150m straightaway for the victory, her first state title in any event. Interestingly, Gehl was third at state last season in a time that was just four tenths of a second slower than this season's state title winning effort. After finishing 61st in her first state meet in 2015, Gehl was fourth in 2016 & 2017. She finishes the 2019 season undefeated in Minnesota cross country competition after taking 3rd in the 1600 & 3200m class A state track meet. 

Jade Rypkema burst into the top ten at state with her runner-up finish after winning section 8A. In her first two state meet appearances she had produced 91st and 26th place individual finishes. After running with the chase pack through 3200m, Rypkema gained an edge and created a gap she held to the finish for her outstanding 18:20 result. Luverne sophomore Tenley Nelson was third, improving on her previous best state meet finish (5th) and time (18:27.1) in four appearances, keying her team's second place effort. Mesabi East senior Ava Hill and Lester Prairie-Holy Trinity-Mayer Lutheran seventh grader Addison Hoof rounded out the top five individually.  

Girls Class A MNXCCA All-State (top 25 individuals)

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