Grand Forks meet included nearly 60 teams

Contributed photo
The Otter Tail Central Bulldogs competed in the large Border Battle cross country meet in Grand Forks last weekend. The meet included nearly 60 teams from across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Canada.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Otter Tail Central competed in one of the largest cross country meets of the season on Saturday. Nearly 60 teams competed in the Border Battle at Grand Forks. This was the first time the large meet was held and it essentially replaced the Milaca Mega Meet, which was long proclaimed as the “largest cross country meet in the world.” That meet was canceled after being held for the past 50 years.

Contributed photo
Otter Tail Central competed at the Border Battle in Grand Forks on Saturday. The meet included nearly 60 teams from across the region. 

The Border Battle featured teams in multiple divisions based on school size from Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Canada.

The course was fast on Saturday as 17 OTC runners set a new personal best, including Peter Newark who was the first Minnesota 5k finisher and is now fourth all-time in OTC history with a time of 17:00. Newark finished in eighth place overall in the Class A meet. As a team, the Bulldogs finished in sixth place overall out of 25 teams. 

Senior Joseph Froslee also competed for the Bulldogs and took 45th place overall with a time of 18:28. 

“The Border Battle was a great atmosphere for our runners, I have to tip my hat off to the race organizers for putting on just an incredible event,” said head coach Brady Speicher. “The Bulldogs ran tough today, our goal was to embrace the pain that cross country racing brings. Over the last 3 weeks of racing we have set 57 new PRs, those types of results don’t come by accident. This team is working hard and they deserve all the recognition they can get.”

Other highlights from the meet include Josiah Mansker, who took 15th place in the seventh grade race; as well as Delia Tebrugge, who took seventh place in the girls eighth grade race.

This week the Bulldogs will compete at the Pelican Rapids meet on Thursday night. 

OTC Results

3K Boys

MaCade Barbe 15:12.0, Oren Brackin 14:49.0 Matt Brandborg 14:02.0, Elias Chase 15:57.3, Jorden Hallberg 15:50.2, Chase Hoff 14:45.8, Logan Jenson 13:21.5, Josiah Mansker 11:41.1, Jack Robinson 14:10.0, Ethan Sanju 15:43.2, Fred Scott 15:14.4

3k Girls

Tegan Brandon 14:49.9, Claire Kraemer 16:42.2, Delia Tebrugge 13:21.9

5K Boys

Joseph Froslee 18:28.8, Dylan Geihsler 24:03.0, Jonas Hagemeister 18:47.4, Aidan Heggem 18:40.0, Emil Herrling 21:28.1, Mason Hoyt 23:00.0, Jack Jossart 21:16.7, Cayden Mansker 23:31.4, Peter Newark 17:00.5, Quinn Condiff 20:25.4, Talyn Setterholm 18:47.6, August Wicklund 20:57.7 

5k Girls

Emily Christensen 24:02.2, Laney Frost 23:09.0 Mae Hagemeister 25:46.9, Erika Heibel 22:47.1