Jackson County Central will compete in the Big South Conference Cross Country Championship Tuesday at Minn-Iowa Golf Course in Elmore.
The conference’s 15 teams are divided into two divisions with the Huskies in the seven-team Small School Division. There will be eight teams in the Big School Division.
The teams run together in one race but are scored separately.
JCC was third in the girls team standings at last year’s conference meet and the boys were fifth.
The Huskies had four runners earn honorable mention all-conference honors in 2023 and two will run again on Tuesday. The top seven runners in each race are all-conference, with places 8-14 receiving honorable mention recognition.
Cora Pauling, now a freshman, was honorable mention in the girls race for the second time and eighth grader Naiya Ayers also earned all-conference honors last year. Now graduated Elese Paplow was honorable mention for the girls for the second time.
For JCC’s boys in 2023, EJ Peterson was honorable mention in his senior season.
Jackson County Central will then compete in the Section 3A meet Thursday, Oct. 24 at Luverne.
The lowdown
Big South Conference cross country
Tuesday, Oct. 15
At Minn-Iowa Golf Course, Elmore
Schedule
All races 5000 meters
3:30 p.m.: JV girls
4 p.m.: JV boys
4:30 p.m.: Varsity girls
5 p.m.: Varsity boys
Participating teams
Small School Division
Blue Earth Area
Jackson County Central
Luverne
Pipestone
Redwood Valley
St. James Area
Windom
Large School Division
Belle Plaine
Fairmont
Marshall
New Ulm
St. Peter
Tri-City United
Waseca
Worthington
State ranked
Eight individuals and seven teams were listed in the state rankings by the Minnesota Cross Country Coaches Association polls.
Girls individual
Addie Thomas, Redwood Valley, 6th Class A
Macy Hanson, Fairmont, 5th Class AA
Keira Friedrich, St. Peter, 10th Class AA
Girls team
Redwood Valley, 2nd Class A
Marshall, 7th Class AA
Belle Plaine, 9th Class AA
Boys individual
Will Ahrens, Redwood Valley, 1st Class A
Kilen Cilek, Redwood Valley, 3rd Class A
Owen Janiszeski, Luverne, 5th Class A
Sam Deutz, Marshall, 6th Class AA
Fanuel Wolday, Worthington, 7th Class AA
Boys team
Redwood Valley, 1st Class A
Luverne, 5th Class A
Marshall, 1st Class AA
Belle Plaine, 12th Class AA
History
JCC all-conference runners
Girls
2014: Jessica Christoffer; Jadin Bezdicek (HM)
2015: None
2016: Jessica Christoffer (HM)
2017: Jessica Christoffer
2018: None
2019: Olivia Anderson (HM)
2020: Olivia Anderson (HM)
2021: Olivia Anderson
2022: Cora Pauling (HM); Elese Paplow (HM)
2023: Cora Pauling (HM); Elese Paplow (HM); Naiya Ayers (HM)
Boys
2014: None
2015: None
2016: None
2017: None
2018: None
2019: None
2020: Evan Paplow (HM); Andrew Boyum (HM)
2021: Andrew Boyum; Evan Paplow (HM)
2022: Evan Paplow (HM)
2023: EJ Peterson (HM)
Champions
Team
Small School girls
2014: Redwood Valley
2015: Luverne
2016: Luverne
2017: Luverne
2018: Luverne
2019: Luverne
2020: Luverne
2021: Luverne
2022: Luverne
2023: Redwood Valley
Big School girls
2014: Marshall
2015: Marshall
2016: Marshall
2017: Marshall
2018: Marshall
2019: Marshall
2020: Marshall
2021: Marshall
2022: Marshall
2023: Marshall
Small School boys
2014: Redwood Valley
2015: Windom
2016: Windom
2017: St. James Area
2018: St. James Area
2019: St. James Area
2020: St. James Area
2021: St. James Area
2022: Luverne
2023: Redwood Valley
Big School boys
2014: Marshall
2015: Marshall
2016: Marshall
2017: Marshall
2018: Worthington
2019: Worthington
2020: Worthington
2021: Worthington
2022: Marshall
2023: Marshall
Individual
Small School girls
2014: Madi Schandelmeier, Luverne
2015: Madi Schandelmeier, Luverne
2016: Madi Schandelmeier, Luverne
2017: Tenley Nelson, Luverne
2018: Tenley Nelson, Luverne
2019: Tenley Nelson, Luverne
2020: Tenley Nelson, Luverne
2021: Tenley Nelson, Luverne
2022: Jenna De Bates, Luverne
2023: Jenna DeBates, Luverne
Big School girls
2014: Claire Boersma, Marshall
2015: Claire Boersma, Marshall
2016: Claire Boersma, Marshall
2017: Ella Dufault, Waseca
2018: Ella Dufault, Waseca
2019: Ella Dufault, Waseca
2020: Ella Dufault, Waseca
2021: Laura Thompson, Fairmont
2022: Macy Hanson, Fairmont
2023: Allyson Sample, Marshall
Small School boys
2014: Michael Suda, Pipestone
2015: Michael Suda, Pipestone
2016: John Irwin, Windom
2017: Lukas Pierson, St. James Area
2018: Jayson Peverl, Redwood Valley
2019: Seth Pierson, St. James Area
2020: Caleb Rivera, St. James Area
2021: Will Ahrens, Redwood Valley
2022: Will Ahrens, Redwood Valley
2023: Will Ahrens, Redwood Valley
Big School boys
2014: Shane Streich, Waseca
2015: Shane Streich, Waseca
2016: Cole Streich, Waseca
2017: Brett Altenberger, Waseca
2018: Zachary Matznek, Marshall
2019: Adam Koller, Worthington
2020: Mikele Walu, Worthington
2021: Fanuel Wolday, Worthington
2022: Mikele Walu, Worthington
2023: Fanuel Wolday, Worthington