NORTHFIELD — Two Minnesota high school runners have been disqualified in the state girls cross country meet for helping an opponent who fell.

Kailee Kiminski, a senior from Esko, and Tierney Winter, a junior in Janesville, forfeited the race last weekend to help Jackson County Central freshman Jessica Christoffer cross the finish line. All three were disqualified because of a high school league rule against aiding another runner.

Christoffer said she is “really thankful” for her peers. She said she got tired and fell, and it was nice of them to help her finish the race.

Winter said she couldn’t leave Christoffer 50 meters from the finish line. She said she wouldn’t want to be left there if she had fallen and she was just being “a friend of a runner.”