FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn (KWAD) – High school runners from across the state will converge on the rolling hills of the Les Bolstad Golf Course at the University of Minnesota on Saturday, November 1st for the 2025 MSHSL State Cross Country meet. Among the nearly 1,000 runners competing for team and individual A, AA and AAA titles this weekend are dozens of standout athletes and full teams from central and northern Minnesota—many with legitimate shots at state medals and podium finishes.
CLASS A NOTES:
Audrey Brownell of Staples-Motley returns to the state meet as the defending Class A individual champion, completing last year’s race in 18:17. After missing the cut last season, Bertha-Hewitt’s Kendra Miller returns to the Class A meet after a sixth-place finish at the 6A Championship last week. Miller took 68th place as a freshman in 2023. She’ll be joined by teammate Miette Hansel, who is running in her first state meet to close out her high school cross country career. Freshman Nori Song of Minnewaska also qualified for the state meet as an individual runner. Last year, Song finished 71st overall in a 13th-place team effort by Minnewaska Area. Freshman Greta Galzki of Park Rapids qualified for her first State meet at the 8A Championship with a third-place finish in Bagley.
In the boys race, the area will be represented individually by a healthy field of State veterans Drew Aho of UNC (48th place in 2024), Brennyn Ott of Nevis (first state meet), Peter Newark of OTC (25th in 2024), Logan Wiehoff (39th in 2024) and Jacob Drevlow (18th in 2024) of Sauk Centre.
Five area teams will be competing this weekend, both the boys and girls teams from Wadena-Deer Creek, the Park Rapids boys, the Bertha-Hewitt boys and the United North Central Girls. The WDC girls return to the state meet for the third time in four seasons and are looking for their first team title since 1998. They finished 14th at their last appearance in 2023. The WDC boys are back at state for the first time since 1993, and only the third time as a program (1989, 1993, 2025). Park Rapids is back at state for the fifth-straight season, looking to improve on their 16th-place finish last season. The Bertha-Hewitt boys are led by Section champ Brady Rach and are at state representing section 6A for the fourth-straight season. Senior runners Rach, Henry Lockwood and Gunnar Barthel, who helped lead the Bears to a third-place finish in 2023, are looking to make some noise in their final State meet. UNC is back for the third-straight year, led by section champ Macie Josephson and section runner-up Anaya Aho, after just missing the podium last season with a fourth-place finish.
The Class A boys run at 10:00 on Saturday morning, with the Class A girls following at 10:45.
CLASS AA NOTES:
When it comes to state cross country history, few schools can match the legacy of Perham. The Yellowjackets once again bring both their girls and boys teams to the State meet for the 23rd and 24th straight time, respectively. Both teams are still looking for that elusive Class AA championship after moving up to AA in 2023. The girls won five Class A titles between 2015-2022 and finished runner up in the other two. The boys won eight Class A titles between 2006-19. The girls finished third in Class AA last season, and the boys have finished runner-up the last two State meets.
Also competing in the Class AA boys race this year is 8AA individual champion Connor Malecka of Detroit Lakes, the first DL repeat State qualifier since Peyton Nordby in 2018 and 2019. Malecka is the tenth-ranked boys runner in Class AA this season, and is looking to improve on last year’s 46th-place State finish.
The Class AA meet begins with the boys at 12:15 on Saturday, with the girls following at 1:00.
CLASS AAA NOTES:
As one of Minnesota’s most consistent distance programs, Alexandria sends both its boys and girls squads to the U of M…this time as runners-up in Section 8AAA after moving up a class after section realignment over the summer.
The Alexandria girls finished runner-up last season. The boys are back at State for the first time since 2022.
Brainerd will be represented by two individual qualifiers: Briana Blasing and Jonathan Cowell. Both athletes have been fixtures at the top of Central Lakes Conference meets this fall and aim to cap their seasons with strong state performances.
The Class AAA boys race starts at 2:30, and the girls start at 3:15.