FALCON HEIGHTS — Audrey Brownell shaved 2.6 seconds off last year’s time in the state cross-country meet, but it wasn’t enough to win her another title.
The Staples-Motley senior and defending Class 1A champion won silver in the Saturday, Nov. 1, race at the University of Minnesota’s Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights.
St. John’s Prep junior Margaret Duffy took the top spot, beating Brownell by 19.1 seconds.
Duffy also beat Brownell in the 3200M race at the state track meet this spring, preventing her from becoming the first Minnesota runner to win a title in every long distance event.
But Brownell did have the best finish of a Northland runner.
A total of 121 student-athletes from rural Northern Minnesota ran in the state meet this year, and two of them medaled.
Detroit Lakes sophomore Connor Malecka was the second, finishing seventh in the 2A race.
The Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin boys finished seventh of the 16 teams in 1A; they had the best placement of the 12 Northern Minnesota teams that competed.
The top 10 individual finishers in each class are awarded medals. While Brownell and Malecka were the only two Northlanders in the top 10, six others finished in the top 20: Garrett Guida (12th, McGregor-Aitkin), Macie Josephson (12th, United North Central), Ari Dahl (13th, Cromwell-Wright/Floodwood), Anders Erickson (13th, Carlton-Wrenshall), Brayden Nielsen (15th, GNK) and Taylor Covier (16th, GNK).
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