United South Central’s Stevermer is Class A’s 5th-fastest sophomore

NORTHFIELD — With the fifth-best place of any sophomore in Class A, United South Central’s Beth Stevermer ended the season on a high note.

Stevermer finished 21st out of 175 runners with a time of 19:43.1 Saturday at the girls’ Class A state cross country meet at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

Winning the race was Winona Cotter seventh-grader Grace Ping in 17:52.0, which was more than a minute faster than anyone in Class A and the fifth-fastest time in the state. In the Class AA race, Alexandria’s Bethany Hasz and Megan Hasz finished first and second with times of 17:32.2 and 17:38.9.

Stevermer, a sophomore, qualified for state Oct. 29 with a time of 19:39.7 to take third place out of 137 runners at the Section 2A meet hosted by Tri-City United at Montgomery National Golf Club.

Saturday was Stevermer’s third appearance at state. Last season, she came in seventh out of 171 runners with a time of 15:01.5. In 2013, she came in 14th out of 174 runners with a time of 15:23.2.

In the 2014 and 2013 state meets, the race distance was 4K. This year it was changed to 5K.

USC coach Rita Augustine could not be reached as of press time.