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Ram XC Boys Win NW Conference Meet

Submitted by Pat Garry,

Sports Writer

Although the NW Cross Country Conference has been around since 2016, the Roseau Rams have not been able to bring home the coveted traveling trophy until this year-2024. On Thursday, October 10, area schools all traveled to East Grand Forks, as Riverside Christian School was hosting the meet at Valley Golf Course. It was a warm October day, with the temperature an unusually warm 83 degrees, although the cloud cover helped a little to shield the sun. The 2024 Roseau team is relatively young, with the Varsity team made up of mostly juniors and freshmen. During the course of the CC season, these boys worked hard and showed steady improvement. Returning 2023 State CC participant Van Munstenteiger has had to deal with a hip injury, slowing his chance to really participate as fully as he would like, although he was able to run most of the races. Other juniors, Wyatt Crist, Brody Kasprowicz, and John Delaney, all contributed nicely throughout the season. Ninth-graders Asher Munstenteiger, Bjorn Johnson and Elias Capps have steadily improved as well. Meanwhile, in the JH boys races, the Rams were ripping up the courses. Dietrich Olson won all 6 JH races he ran this season. He was usually followed closely by Breck Hovda and Abram Huener. These 3 young runners sometimes finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at meets. This would prove to help the Varsity team as the season started to wind down. These 8th graders were called up to Varsity and were ready to contribute.

For the NW Conference Meet, the Rams scored 45 points with their top 5 runners, Van Munstenteiger, Asher Munstenteiger, Dietrich Olson, Brody Kasprowicz, and Wyatt Crist. Breck Hovda and Abram Huener ran 6th and 7th for the Rams. Thief River Falls (55 points) placed 2nd and East Grand Forks (67 points) placed 3rd. For the Girls, Riverside Christian won with 45 points, followed by Thief River Falls with 57 points, and Fertile Beltrami with 91 points. The NW Conference Meet moves around the area with area teams taking turns hosting. Next year the Ram Boys will try to defend their traveling trophy win, when Roseau hosts the NW Conference Meet in October 2025. The MSHSL Section 8A Meet will be held in Bagley’s Twin Pines Golf Course on Friday, October 25 at 4 p.m. The best 2 teams and the best 6 individuals (not on those 2 teams) will advance to the State CC Meet.

Several Rams Earn All NW Conference Cross-Country Honors

In a Cross-Country Meet, every runner toes the same starting line, nervously stretching and bouncing, wanting the race to start– so it can end. When the gun finally sounds, they race off, following a course that takes them around golf courses, pushing themselves as hard as they can or dare. The goal is always to win, but in CC, only one athlete earns that honor. This is why in CC the top 15 places are considered All-Conference. For their efforts they receive a nice wooden plaque to remember the occasion. The NW Conference has been around since 2016. There are currently 13 teams: Ada Borup-West, Bagley-Fosston, Clearbrook-Gonvick, East Grand Forks, Fertile-Beltrami, Lake of the Woods, Red Lake County, Thief River Falls, Riverside Christian, Northern Freeze, West Marshall, Warroad, & Roseau. These schools face off around the area all season, and the NW Conference meet is a good measure of a season of self-improvement, staying healthy, and hard work. For the Rams Boys’ team, 4 athletes earned all-conference Awards (top 15). First across for the Rams was Van Munstenteiger in 2nd place (17:38). The second runner was Asher Munstenteiger (18:37), with 8th-grader Dietrich Olson close behind in 9th place (19:01). Junior Brody Kasprowics ran 4th for the Rams, crossing the line in 13th place (19:25). For the Ram Girls, sophomore Megan Delaney earned all NW Conference honors, running in 14th place with a time of 22:29.

 

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