Oct 23, 2023

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We are now fully in the midst of the Minnesota cross country championship season with the conference championships finished and sections starting this week with berths to the state meet on the line!

Here we look at the Minnesota Boy's Runner of the Week Nominees for Week 8 of the cross country season.

Polling starts on Monday at 7 am and ends on Saturday at 7 pm.

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Boys Runner of the Week Nominees

Isaiah Anderson (Mankato East)

Anderson won his third straight Big 9 Conference Championship title with a time of 15:48.80, leading the Mankato East boys to a dominant meet victory with 29 points and a 16:38 team average. He is now the only Big 9 Conference boy to win three individual titles, breaking a tie with Garrett Heath, Elliott Heath, Jon Michael-Brandt, and Riley Macon.

Will Ahrens (Redwood Valley)

Ahrens won his second straight Big South Conference title where he finished as the only runner under 16-minutes with a time of 15:55.26. Ahrens led the Redwood Valley boys to a 2nd place finish only behind Marshall who is ranked as the #2 team in Class AA.

Nolan Sutter (Chaska)

The Chaska senior continued his stellar season at the Metro West Conference Championships where he dominated the field en route to a time of 15:36.8, winning by 55 seconds. Sutter has now won back-to-back conference titles. Overall Sutter has won four races this season and has run 15:40 or under in 7 straight races.

Erik Semling (Cotter)

Semling won his first career race at the 5K distance at the Three Rivers Conference Championships where he ran a time of 16:07.40 to win by 21 seconds. Semling, just an 8th-grader now ranks #1 for his class in Minnesota and #3 nationally for the class of 2028.

Robert Mechura (Roseville)

Mechura won his first career Suburban East Conference title, where he finished with a time fo 15:24.08 to win by about 5 seconds over Luke Williams of White Bear Lake. This is Mechura's fourth win of the season in five races, with his only loss coming in the from of a 3rd place finish at Roy Griak.

Sully Anez (Willmar)

Anez won his third straight Central Lakes Conference title, finishing with a time of 15:52.1, winning by 46 seconds. Anez led the Willmar boys to a close second-place team finish, just 4 points behind Fergus Falls. Anez has now run under 16 minutes for the 5K five times this season, matching his total from 2022.

Salvador Wirth (Annandale)

Wirth not only won his fourth straight race for the season, but also his fourth straight Wright County Conference West Championships title. Wirth ran a time of 16:44 to win by 11 seconds over Soren Bortnem. Wirth has now won 8 times on the season with his only loss coming in the form of an 8th place finish at Roy Griak.