Class 1A cross-country: Confidence is key for individual winners

Few cross-country runners have the experience that Perham senior Maddie McClellan brought to Saturday's Class 1A state meet in Northfield. She had made four previous trips to state, placing 39th as an eighth-grader followed by sixth-, fourth- and third-place finishes.

McClellan's final race was her best. She rolled to a seven-second victory over runner-up Kayla Woltz, a ninth-grader from Chatfield, and capped her prep cross-country career in style.

"I've been here since eighth grade, when I was real young on the team, and I got to see older girls running and experience that and just kind of work my way up each time," McClellan said. "It was kind of like, 'Hey, I can keep doing this.'"

Her winning time was 14 minutes, 55.2 seconds. Woltz, who placed second for the second year in a row, finished in 15:02.3. Blake eighth-grader Clare Flanagan placed third.

Waseca claimed the 1A girls' team title with 81 points. Perham was second with 92 and Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin third with 121. Waseca was led by Allison Streich, who was seventh among team competitors, and Morgan Larson (ninth). Petra Nelson's 17th-place finish led Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin.

Mubarik Musa was confident before the 1A boys' race, and the Worthington sophomore rode that feeling to a state championship. He finished in 16:01.8, and Blake's Paul Koullick was second in 16:19.3.

Musa finished eighth in Class 2A last year for Park Center, and this time "I had a lot of confidence," he said.

Koullick is ranked No. 1 in 1A and Musa is No. 4. This was their first meeting of the season and Koullick led much of the way.

"The guy's really tough from Blake," Musa said. "We pushed each other."

Plainview-Elgin-Millville won the boys' team title with 100 points, two better than runner-up Perham with 102. St. Cloud Cathedral was third with 110.

Plainview-Elgin-Millville was led by Aaron Haley, who placed fourth overall and second among team competitors, and Grant Timm, who was fifth among team runners. Sam Stoll was Perham's top runner, placing third among team competitors.