OWATONNA – The conditions, the competition and the course were challenging for the Albert Lea High School cross country teams.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

OWATONNA – The conditions, the competition and the course were challenging for the Albert Lea High School cross country teams.

They were hoping for better, but coach Chris Chalmers was pleased anyway.

The girls finished ninth and the boys 10th among 10 squads in Tuesday’s Big Nine Conference meet at Owatonna’s Brooktree Golf Course.

&uot;I think we were hoping for more personal bests in the conference meet, but both the boys and girls ran outstanding races, and there’s one more chance with the section meet,&uot; said Chalmers. &uot;Both coach (Jim) Haney and I are real happy with the teams’ progress. They represented Albert Lea well. They can be proud of their efforts.&uot;

The ALHS girls had 236 points for ninth. Owatonna won with 34 and had the top finisher, Lisa McCann in 14:46.

Placing for the ALHS varsity: Tiffany Truesdell, 39th, 17:24; Ellen Vandersyde, 45th, 17:37; Erin Budd, 49th, 19:43; Sasha Flores, 54th, 18:10; Kaylee Hable, 60th, 18:27; Brittany Springborg, 64th, 20:13; Anna Keesling, 65th, 21:13. Junior varsity: Rachel Antinozzi, 45th, 19:38; Frances O’Donnell, 48th, 19:43; Kyra Danneker, 65th, 20:48; Ziva Danneker, 68th, 21:22; Andrea Madrigal, 69th, 21:22; Amanda Stolaas, 78th, 22:45; Vanessa Storlie, 84th, 26:33.

Budd, O’Donnell and Kyra Danneker had personal-best times.

Places and times for the ALHS varsity boys: Adam Muilenburg, 34th, 17:53; Sean Harms, 49th, 18:38; Josh Anderson, 56th, 19:08; Andrew Irvine, 59th, 19:50; Ben Matheson, 64th, 19:32; Casey Ciffra, 67th, 20:52. Junior varsity: Andrew Dyrdal, 67th, 20:37; Corey Dieser, 85th, 21:38; Levi Budd, 89th, 21:40; Justin Elwood, 95th, 22:29; Scott Johnson, 101st, 23:16; Ben Lindeman, 106th, 24:27.

Season bests were by Matheson, Dyrdal, Levi Budd, Johnson and Lindeman.

Mankato West won the boys’ team title with 31 points. Tom Schmidt of Faribault was a surprise winner, clocking 15:38.

The Tigers return to Brooktree Thursday, Oct. 25 for the Section 1AA meet.