Seven Mounders conclude prep cross country careers

ELK MOUND — Although running is a lifelong activity, running for your high school cross country team has to end sometime and for seven Elk Mound athletes, that time came this past October. Three girls including Nevada LaPointe, Elayna Gutsch and Corrine Zimmer all competed at the varsity level for the Mounders for three seasons, while Hayden Kohls ran three seasons for the boys and Grant Kjellberg, Nate Kruger and Erik Strand all competed for two years.

Nevada LaPointe

Keeping in mind the girls’ race in 2013 was a 4K then and was changed to a 5K last year, LaPointe ran in various meets throughout her career including three conference meets with her best finish coming as a junior when she was 28th in a time of 24:35. She ran in the sectional meet as a sophomore and finished 72nd in a 4K time of 19:54. In her final race, which was the conference meet this year she was 40th at 25:31 and her personal best time was 24:25 at the meet in Osseo-Fairchild this season.

Elayna Gutsch

Gutsch also ran in a lot of meets including three conference meets and ran a personal best time in that meet her junior year, finishing 30th at 24:44. She dropped down to 57th place at conference this season with a time of 29:21.

Corrine Zimmer

Zimmer competed in three conference meets and ran at sectionals her sophomore year where she finished 80th in 20:42. Her career fastest time came in the conference meet as a junior when she placed 39th in the 5K at 26:12.She struggled a bit this year and ended up in 50th place in the conference meet in 27:56.

“This group of girls worked hard and were really pushed by some underclassmen this year,” coach Jeremiah Fredrickson said. “That seemed to make them work even harder and it showed the younger kids how much work needs to go into a sport like this.”

Hayden Kohls

Kohls raced in three sectional meets and three conference meets in his career. He improved from 90th place at sectionals in 21:31 his sophomore year to 40th as a senior with a time of 19:34. His best conference time was 20:04 as a junior but his best finish was 32nd as a senior. His personal best time was 19:25 at the meet in Osseo-Fairchild this season.

Nate Kruger

Kruger made great strides in just two years of competition, moving up from 38th place in the conference as a junior to Second Team All Conference by placing 13th this year with a time of 19:49. His best sectional time however, came as a junior in 19:51 for 53rd place and his overall best time occurred at the Osseo-Fairchild meet when he completed the course in 18:55.

Grant Kjellberg

Kjellberg also ran his personal best time at the Osseo-Fairchild meet in 19:45 and had his best conference and sectional finishes as a senior. He was 35th at conference in 21:08 and 67th at the sectional meet in 20:25 and he was the first Mounder to finish for the team at the Mondovi Invite for 23rd place.

Erik Strand

Strand ran in several meets in his two years and ran his personal best time at the conference meet as a junior in 22:13 where he finished 70th. He improved his placing at conference this year by finishing 58th with a time of 23:47.

“Our senior boys were a big part of some good finishes at area meets the past two years,” Fredrickson said.