By Chad Koenen

Publisher

In one of the largest cross country meets of the season, the Otter Tail Central cross country team made the trek to the Twin Cities on Saturday for the annual Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course near the University of Minnesota.

Well over 1,000 people competed at the meet with runners in eight different divisions at the large meet. Teams were from across Minnesota, as well as South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.

A total of 224 people competed in the high school gopher division, including five members of the OTC girls team. 

Tegan Brandon led the way as she finished in 125th place with a time of 24:53. Kailie Robinson finished in 149th place with a time of 25:30, Quinn Hagemeister finished in 155th place with a time of 25:48, Mae Hagemeister finished in 191st place with a time of 27:33 and Jasmine Sanmoogan finished in 214th place with a time of 32:08.

On the boys side, a total of 252 people competed in the high school gopher division with Peter Newark finishing near the top of the leaderboard as he took 21st place with a time of 18:10. Drew Robinson finished in 151st place with a time of 20:15, Phoenix Allison finished in 197th place with a time of 21:41, Oren Brackin finished in 225th place with a time of 22:48, Jack Robinson finished in 228th place with a time of 23:00 and Benji Sanmoogan finished in 238th place with a time of 23:45. 

This week the Bulldogs will travel to Bertha-Hewitt on Tuesday, before traveling to East Grand Forks for another large multi-state cross country meet on Saturday.