USC’s girls take 10th, boys 8th at section meet

Beth Stevermer of the United South Central girls’ cross country team continued her string of impressive performances Thursday, finishing second in the Section 2A Cross Country Meet, and advancing to the state meet.

Stevermer and Tieney Winter were locked in a duel for most of the 4000-meter race before Winter pulled away over the final 800 meters to win the section championship.

“Beth had an outstanding season, finishing in the top two in her last six races,” said USC head coach Kent Viesselman. “We’re looking forward to the state meet. It’ll be fun to see how both she and Winter will do there.

“Not enough has been said about our girls’ team this year,” commented Viesselman. With just five on the varsity roster and five runners needed to have a team score, there has been no room for a bad day or injury. The girls performed very well, and have had to bite the bullet a few times to even field a team, but they’ve been remarkably tough. I’m very pleased with their performance this year.”

“Tenley Schwartz, the only senior on the girls’ team, has had a remarkable season. She improved her time from last year for the 4-kilometer race by nearly two minutes. It’s been due to a lot of hard work over the summer. She’s been instrumental in any success our team has had this year,” said Viesselman.

The boys finished in eighth place as a team and were led again by Brian Remington.

“This was the boys’ best meet of the season. In the section meet, they improved their team time — top five times added together — by over 40 seconds. The Rebels top four finished within 28 seconds of each other. I’ve also been very pleased with the boys this year,” said Viesselman. “Their attitude and work ethic has been excellent. I think they performed as well as we could ask.”

Senior Logan Thomsen ran second to Remington, and turned in the best performance of his cross country career.

“I’m really pleased with Logan’s performance,” said Viesselman. “He’s had a couple of frustrating outings, but he finished the season with a solid performance.

James Dundas, the Rebels other senior also ran well, coming within three seconds of his best time.

“James is not a natural distance runner,” Viesselman said. “But, we can always count on him to give 100 percent, and that means a lot.”

Stevermer will compete in the Class A girls 4-kilometer race at the state meet Saturday. The state meet is held on the St. Olaf College’s campus in Northfield. Class A girls are at 1:00 p.m., and the Class A boys are at 2 p.m. Class AA is held in the morning.