Cross country teams compete at Conference Meet

Hutchinson fell one point short of defending its title in the Missota Conference Boys’ Cross Country Meet last fall. This season, the team hopes to contend once again for a spot in the top three.

The conference meet is scheduled for 4 p.m. today at the College of St. Catherine’s in St. Paul.

The girls’ team, which finished fourth a year ago, could move up a spot in the pecking order with the anticipated return of state-ranked runner Alissa Retterath, who has been out since early September with an abdominal strain.

“Red Wing is the clear favorite in the boys’ race. They had four runners ahead of Lukus (Klawitter) at Milaca, although he’ll do better this week than there,” Tigers coach Jeff Schmidt said. “(Lukus) is the ninth returner and should have a good run. He’d been sick a while and had off days at Milaca and Willmar. He’s been looking like his old self lately.”

Klawitter, David Tomenes, Evan Borscheid, Sean Ahlers, Mike Bassler, TJ Coblentz and Andrew Paulsen will be the varsity lineup.

For the girls, Shakopee and Prior Lake are the favorites, but Schmidt believes third is not out of the picture.

“We are pretty close to New Prague for the third spot. That is assuming Alissa does well, otherwise Red Wing and a couple of others will be there with us,” Schmidt said.

To read more about the Tigers, make sure to check out Thursday's print edition on newsstands right now.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.