PERHAM – Willmar senior Sully Anez has started the cross-country season off right.
Anez competed in the Brave Like Gabe meet at Arvig Park on Saturday and won the boys’ 5K gold race with a time of 15 minutes, 51.1 seconds, defeating Jace Haerter of Edina, who finished in 15:59.1.
The Cardinal boys finished eighth out of 14 teams with 219 points. Edina won with 38, followed by Perham with 63 and Hopkins with 111.
In the girls’ gold race, Lauren Eilers, a senior from Willmar, took second place with a time of 18:54.1. Sydney Drevlow from Hopkins won with a time of 18:29.1. Erin Eilers of the Cardinals took 14th place with a time of 20:26.1.
The Willmar girls finished seventh with 176 points. Hopkins took the girls’ gold crown with 38 points, topping Perham’s 60 and Moorhead’s 97.
The Montevideo boys team finished fourth in the black boys division with 117 points. Sophomore Adam VanBinsbergen was the Thunder Hawks’ top runner, finishing 20th with a time of 19:38.1. Hawley won the black division title with 49 points. Pelican Rapids’ Charlie Larson posted the winning time of 16:45.1.
Emmary Birhanzl ran Montevideo’s best time of 24:17.1 for 39th place. The Thunder Hawk girls finished eighth in the black girls division with 202 points. St. Cloud Cathedral won with 31 points and Katelyn Waldoch of the Crusaders won with 20:24.1.
(1) Edina 38… (2) Perham 63… (3) Hopkins 111… (4) Lakeville South 117… (5) Maple Grove 131… (6) Moorhead 214… (7) Eastview 215… (8) Willmar 219… (9) Bemidji 258… (10) Pequot Lakes 270… (11) Horace (ND) 287… (12) Detroit Lakes 313… (13) Little Falls 367… (14) Fargo South (ND) 414
TOP FIVE — (1) Sully Anez, Will, 15:51.1 … (2) Jace Haerter, Ed, 15:59.1 … (3) Zachary Danielson, Ed, 16:07.6 … (4) Carter Hering, Hop, 16:15.1 … (5) Bjorn Anderson, Per, 16:15.1
WILLMAR – (1) Anez … (31) Zach Engstrom 17:46.1 … (51) Ruben Palacios 19:00.1 … (65) Timmy Halvorson 19:50.1 … (67) Eli Heinen 19:58.3 … (75) Jordan Heil 20: 50.8 … (80) David Lammers 21:19.3
(1) Hawley 49… (2) Thief River Falls 81… (3) Wadena-Deer Creek 103… (4) Montevideo 117… (5) Pelican Rapids 123… (6) St. Cloud Cathedral 147… (7) Lake Park -Audubon 149… (8) Ottertail Central 161… (9) Barnesville 242… (10) Bagley/Fosston 261… (11) Verndale 316
TOP FIVE — (1) Charlie Larson, PR, 16:45.1… (2) Owen Winter, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, 17:00.5… (3) Curtis Griffin, TRF, 117:12.1… (4) Peter Newark, OTC , 17:24.3 … (5) Grant Nelson, WDC, 17:29.1
MONTEVIDEO — (20) Adam VanBinsbergen 19:38.1 … (21) Blake Andrews 19:43.3 … (25) Nelson Velasquez 19:54.1 … (28) Griffin Epema 19:55.6 … (37) Kevin Isaguirre 20:50.8 … (38) Nolan Christopher 20:52.1 … (61) Sonny Dahl 22:47.1
(1) Hopkins 38… (2) Perham 60… (3) Moorhead 97… (4) Little Falls 156… (5) Lakeville South 157… (6) Maple Grove 164… (7) Willmar 176… (8) Horace ( ND) 214… (9) Detroit Lakes 223… (10) Bemidji 277… (11) Fargo South (ND) 303
TOP FIVE — (1) Sydney Drevlow, Hop, 18:29.1 … (2) Lauren Eilers, Will, 18:54.1 … (3) Avalee Brown, Per, 19:38.6 … (4) Cora Grismer, Per, 19:42.1 … (5) Natalie Mohr, DL, 19:44.8
WILLMAR – (2) L. Eilers … (14) Erin Eilers 20:26.1 … (54) Leah Eystad 23:59.1 … (58) Anna Konold 24:14.1 … (59) Alivia Fladeboe 24:32 ,1
(1) St. Cloud Cathedral 31… (2) Riverside Christian (ND) 76… (3) Wadena-Deer Creek 82… (4) Thief River Falls 96… (5) Hawley 102… (6) Pequot Lakes 160… ( 7) Northern Freeze 199… (8) Montevideo 202… (9) Pelican Rapids 222
TOP FIVE – (1) Katelyn Waldock, Cath, 20:24.1… (2) Kyra Rohrbach, PL, 20:25.1… (3) Cecelia Jamison, Cath, 20:39.1… (4) Jayla Abrahamson , RC, 20:40.1 … (5) Enya Scanlon, Cath, 20:44.1
MONTEVIDEO – (39) Emmary Birhanzl 24:17.1… (40) Alexis Williamson 24:19.1… (47) Nora Williamson 25:33.3… (52) Hope Ripley 26:13.6… (55) Gabrielle Augenson 26:23.1 … (61) Hope Rittel 27:10.1 … (69) Aira Roxas 29:12.1
Daniel Cerritos Sagasume scored a goal in the 65th minute to help Willmar win the Central Lakes Conference in Brainerd.
Cerritos is a junior striker and scored his goal with a header from a corner kick by Hermis Alvardo Reyes.
“It was actually a play we had been working on and it was nice to see it work,” Willmar head coach Jeff Winer said.
Sophomore Luis Gomez-Alvarez made seven saves in goal and earned the shoutout.
“We had a bit of a slow start, especially in the first 15 or 20 minutes,” said Winter. “Then we finally got going.”
Willmar has scheduled its first home game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Alexandria at Willmar High School.
