OWATONNA — The season ended for the Albert Lea cross country teams on Thursday, but the Tigers’ Chrissy Monson will continue her quest as she qualified for the state tournament that will be held Nov. 3 at Saint Olaf College in Northfield.

Albert Lea’s girls’ team had a strong season finish in fourth place out of 16 teams, just nine points away from snagging the third spot.

“We will use our fourth place finish as motivation for next year,” Tigers coach Jim Haney said. “We are excited about our prospects for next year.”

The Tigers will lose Monson and Danielle Staat next year on the girls’ team, but their leadership will leave the team ready to compete.

“Those seniors provided tremendous leadership,” said Haney. “Our underclassmen will learn from that.”

The boys’ team came up just shy of their goal, which was to finish 10th, but the coach was happy with their 12th-place finish.

“The boys ran a beautiful race,” said Haney. “They packed up as best they could. We will use that for next year too.”

Even though the teams are done competing for the year, they will travel to Northfield to cheer on Monson as she enters her fifth state competition in cross country, a feat that is hard to do in any sport. Monson was emotional after her fifth place finish at the sectional meet.

“I’m excited and yet it’s bitter sweet,” said Monson. “I wish I had six more girls coming along to run with me. They will be with me on that course, just in a different way. We are like a family.”

Monson has yet to place at the state meet and hopes to change that this year.

“I’m very happy, “ said Monson. “I still have state left. Hopefully we can pull off something big there. This year has challenged me in a lot of ways, and I think it is just preparing me for future things, like college and stuff.”

 

Boys individual results:

Logan Callahan (forty-second, 17:28)

Caleb Troe (fifty-third, 17:36)

Luc Malimanek (fifty-fourth, 17:38)

Blair Bonnerup (sixty-first, 17:44)

Brandon Bonnerup (sixty-fourth, 17:48)

Corde Purdy (sixty-fifth, 17:50)

Jay Skaar (seventy-fourth, 18:07)

 

Girls individual results:

Chrissy Monson (fifth, 15:12)

Anna Englin (twenty-sixth, 16:01)

Morgan Haney (thirtieth, 16:08)

Emma Behling (thirty-ninth, 16:20)

Haley Harms (forty-eighth, 16:31)

Rachel Kenis (fifty-eighth, 16:44)

Breanna Himmerich (ninety-fifth, 17:37)