MARSHALL INDEPENDENT (© 2002 story reprinted with permission)
10-25-2002
Tiger boys headed back to state; girls 8th
By Wayne Cook
Independent Sports Writer
LITCHFIELD � In Tom Allen�s three years of varsity cross country, Marshall had never beaten Mankato West.
That all changed Thursday afternoon in the Section 2AA meet, as the Tigers outran the Scarlets to win the championship, 31-47. The teams � West was rated No. 4 and Marshall No. 5 � qualify for the state meet Nov. 2 in Northfield.
�Every race, they beat us,� Allen said. �We finally got on top of them. That�s all we talked about in practice.� Placing five runners in the top 10, the Tigers talked about beating the Scarlets ... on the bus the ride to the Litchfield golf course. Then the Marshall boys went out and took care of business in convincing fashion. Paced by Yahya Iman, who won the individual title in a time of 15:31, the Tigers used their traditional strong pack running to dethrone Mankato West as the sectional champion.
Akey Jumale finished fourth in 16:04, and teammates filled the 7-9-10 slots as well. Tom Allen (16:18) came in seventh. Salah Mohamed (16:22) was ninth and Jon Tauer (16:23) rounded out the top 10. West, which had three runners in the top eight placings, couldn�t contend with Marshall�s depth. The Scarlets� fourth and fifth runners placed 13th and 18th. After years of near-misses against West � including six years ago, when West won the title and Fairmont was the runner-up a point ahead of the Tigers � it was time to celebrate for the Marshall Tigers.
On a perfectly calm day, the Tigers had personal-best times from everybody. �We knew Mankato West would be there, and Hutchinson,� Allen said. �I would have been happy with second place.� The Tigers� tight pack running was the difference in the 17-team field. Iman, a rookie in the sport, led the way, battling West�s Seijen Takamura. Iman, a sophomore, won by four seconds.
�My goal was to win,� Iman said. �On the first lap, after the starting line, I pushed myself. I thought somebody was behind me when I saw the finish line. There was one guy (Takamura). �I didn�t think I would do this. I�ve been trying.�
In an early-season meet at Hutchinson � when West defeated Marshall � Iman was running just his third varsity cross country race. �He was kind of a rookie in distance running,� Tigers coach Mike Jacobs said. �(In that race), he didn�t answer (Takamura) in the last 300 yards.� It was a different story Thursday.
�Every time, Yahya pulled away, (Takamura) was five steps back. Then 10 steps. In the last 400 yards, Yahya pulled away. He just wore him down,� Jacobs said. Thursday, Marshall simply wore down Mankato West. At about the two-mile mark. The Marshall boys targeted their counterparts from Mankato West. At various stages of the 2AA competition, the Tigers passed the Scarlets. And vice versa. While Iman and Jumale � the latter was coming off a disappointing finish in the Southwest Conference meet � were among the leaders, the Tigers still needed contributions from their top five individuals.
Jumale was fully recovered from a cold, which had affected his performance at the Roy Griak meet in Minneapolis and in the SWC meet. �I was sick those days,� Jumale said. �Today, I felt better. I thought we all did good. Our team did really, really good.�
Jumale set the tempo of the 2AA race with two others. �He didn�t fade much,� Jacobs said. �Some times, he slipped back. I think he and the others knew the importance of this race.� In the showdown to finish at least in the top two teams, Marshall had to stay competitive with Mankato West.
That�s where the pack consisting of Allen, Mohamed and Tauer figured in. They communicated and knew where they stood in the race. �I talked the first mile,� Allen said. �We tried to intimidate the other teams with all that orange. We tried to find everybody. �In the second mile, I got hoarse and Jon had the courage to keep going. He was telling us, if we got passed, to keep running ... because Mankato West runners passed us. He kept encouraging us.�
Allen, in the meantime, wanted to make the top 10. He ended seventh. �I was trying to get right at 10 because they get to go (to state) as individuals,� he said. �As a team, we all get to go (to Northfield).� It�s been years in the making, but the wait after finally winning the sectional championship was worth it Thursday for the Marshall boys.
�The team ran well,� Iman said. It was expected to be a three-team battle for first place. However, Hutchinson was a distant third with 78 points. Jacobs said, if the Tigers ran the races they were capable of, first place wasn�t out of the question.
�We put it together in one package,� Jacobs said. �When we ran at Hutchinson, West ran right through our kids. We weren�t very strong. They sat back and worked their way through us.� Thursday, the Tigers ran their own race and held off every challenge by a Mankato West runner.
�Everybody had a personal best today,� Jacobs said. �I have to hand it to them. It�s fun to know that everybody helped out.� For one year, Mankato West wasn�t the most dominant team in 2AA. The Scarlets lost all of last year�s runners to graduation, but they replaced them with those off a successful junior varsity squad.
�They have been kicking people all year,� Jacobs said. �Our guys wanted this (race) for quite a while. It�s been a long time coming.� It took a team effort to topple the Scarlets.
Tiger eighth-grader Abdillahi Awali (16:56) placed 24th overall as the sixth runner, and Bart Johnson (17:22) came in 34th. Marshall runners almost achieved the goal they wanted, other than capturing the first-ever Section 2AA championship � of having every runner finish under 17 minutes. Six of the seven did. This week, the Tigers talked about beating Mankato West. Then they went out and did it.
�We were talking on the bus about Mankato West,� Jumale said. �We thought this year that we could get them. We didn�t think about second place,� Jumale said. The two teams resume their rivalry at Northfield. �We�re back in the driver�s seat for state,� Allen said.
SECTION 2AA MEET
Team scores � Marshall 31, Mankato West 47, Hutchinson 78, Bufffalo 128, Prior Lake 179, Fairmont 190, Mankato West 195, Glencoe-Silver Lake 222, Litchfield 233, Waconia 239, St. Peter 297, Waseca 320, Willmar 335, Worthington 371, Dassel-Cokato 453, New Prague 455, New Ulm incomplete
Top 10 (state qualifiers): 1. Yahya Iman (M) 15:31. 2. Seijen Takamura (MW) 15:35. 3. Dan Fadgen (B) 15:58. 4. Akey Jumale (M) 16:04. 5. Josh Klawitter (H) 16:09. 6. Hans Storvick (MW) 16:17. 7. Tom Allen (M) 16:18. 8. Jeff Lundgren (MW) 16:20. 9. Salah Mohamed (M) 16:22. 10. Jon Tauer (M) 16:23.
Tiger placings: 24. Abdillahi Awali, 16:56; 34. Bart Johnson, 17:22
LITCHFIELD � Julia Schultz and Traci Pagel of Marshall continued their personal battle during the Section 2AA meet Thursday.
They finished as the top runners for the Tigers, who placed eighth with 236 points. That�s a drop of two places from last year. �The fact that we�re running better and finishing two notches down shows the talent in the section,� Tigers coach Mike Jacobs said. Fairmont outdistanced Willmar, 64-74, for the team championship. Both teams and the top 10 individuals qualify for the state meet. Prior Lake and Glencoe-Silver Lake tied for third with 80 points. Prior Lake won on the sixth-runner tie-breaker.
Pagel, an eighth-grader, was 23rd overall in a time of 15:36. That was five seconds faster than Schultz, a freshman who ran 15:41 and was 26th. In the SWC meet, Schultz defeated Pagel by two seconds. At that meet, Jacobs noticed the late-season improvement that Pagel has made. �I told her this week, �The way you are going, you should be able to pass her. She had the guts to do it�,� Jacobs said. �They both had personal bests. They have been close to 16 minutes. I was excited for them.�
A year ago, Breha Holcomb was the top finisher in the 2AA race. Thursday, Pagel and Schultz ran a pace which was a minute faster than what Holcomb ran last year.
�Breha has maintained her time; it�s just that Traci and Julia have gotten better,� Jacobs said. Holcomb finished 56th Thursday in a time of 16:24 on a fast, flat course. The rest of the Marshall contingent featured Laura Johnson, 61st; Lindsay Baun, 70th; Samantha Tauer, 73rd; and Haley Meyer, 88th. Marshall�s top runners got off the starting line in the 17-team meet in excellent shape.
�I got out pretty good, but not the best,� Pagel said. �It was my best time. �I got boxed in at the start and in the middle (of the race). A lot of people cut you off.� In the last 800 yards, Pagel picked up the pace and passed her teammate. �The ending is my strength,� she said. �A lot of people passed me, and I passed some others. I saw (Julia) and tried to stay with her. �The last 800 yards, I pushed myself. I felt tired. The whole race I was tired, but you keep saying, �It will be over soon�.� Schultz also posted a personal-best time.
�It was my best race of the year,� she said. �Definitely, with that time. �I tried to start out fast. It wasn�t all out, but I had a good pace. By the end of the second (mile), I was dying. A lot of people started passing me.�
SECTION 2AA MEET
Team scores � Fairmont 64, Willmar 74, Prior Lake 80, Glencoe-Silver Lake 80, Hutchinson 163, New Prague 233, Buffalo 233, Marshall 236, Mankato East 244, Mankato West 245, Waseca 267, Waconia 292, New Ulm 388, Litchfield 394, Worthington 406, St. Peter 462, Dassel-Cokato incomplete
Top 10 (state qualifiers) : 1. Maggie Zirbes (GSL) 14:37. 2. Kari Higdem (Wi) 14:41. 3. Kassandra Hendricks (H) 14:41. 4. Jamie Rooney (F) 14:42. 5. Jill Brager (B) 14:43. 6. Megan Brandeland (PL) 14:44. 7. Katie Zirbes (GSL) 14:54. 8. Kirsten Higdem (Wi) 15:03. 9. Megan Lundgren (ME) 15:07. 10. Danielle Burke (Was) 15:07
Tiger placings: 23. Traci Pagel, 15:36; 26. Julia Schultz, 15:41. 56. Breha Holcomb, 16:24; 61. Laura Johnson, 16:32; 70. Lindsay Baun, 16:56; 73. Samantha Tauer, 17:04; 88. Haley Meyer, 17:45
-Courtesy Marshall Independent