The Jackson County Central girls and boys cross country teams are scheduled to compete in a meet for the seventh time this season on Tuesday. For the third time in those seven meets the Huskies will run in Fairmont.
Tuesday’s Big South Conference meet will be held at Cedar Creek Park, which was also the site of the I-90 Invitational on Oct. 6. JCC opened its season on Aug. 26 at the Earlybird Invitational at the athletic complex at Fairmont High School.
All 12 teams will run together in one race.
Jackson County Central will be in the seven-team Small School Division. There are five teams in the Large School Division. New Ulm does not have a cross country program.
The team that wins the varsity race will be declared Big South Conference champions and awarded a conference championship plaque.
The top seven finishers in both the Small School and Large School divisions will receive medals and earn all-conference honors. Finishers 8-14 in both divisions receive certificates and all-conference honorable mention status.
JCC has had five runners earn conference awards, three girls and two boys.
For the girls, Jessica Christoffer earned all-BSC honors twice (2014, 2017) and was honorable mention once (2016).
Olivia Anderson was all-conference once (2021) and honorable mention twice (2019, 2020). Jadin Bezdicek was honorable mention in 2014.
On the boys side, Andrew Boyum was all-conference once (2021) and honorable mention once (2020). Current JCC junior Evan Paplow has earned honorable mention honors each of the last two years.
Each of the former Huskies on that list went on to run in college.
Christoffer competed at South Dakota State, Bezdicek at Iowa Lakes Community College and Kansas Wesleyan, Anderson is a freshman at Minnesota State University, and Boyum is a freshman at Iowa Central Community College.
The best team finish for the JCC girls is third in 2014. The top finish for the boys is fifth-place finishes in 2019 and 2021.
Luverne has won seven straight Small School Division girls team titles after Redwood Valley won the first. St. James Area has won five consecutive Small School boys titles after Redwood won the first and Windom the next two.
In last week’s ratings by the Minnesota Cross Country Coaches Association, Luverne was rated fifth and Redwood Valley 11th in Class A.
Last year’s Small School individual girls winner, Tenley Nelson of Luverne, graduated.
Current Windom freshman Kaylee Walkin was second last year and Luverne junior Jenna Debates placed third. Debates is ranked third and Walkin fifth.
For the boys, Luverne is rated sixth and Redwood Valley eighth.
Will Ahrens of Redwood Valley, now a sophomore, won the Small School boys title last year. He’s rated fifth. Luverne sophomore Owen Janiszeski is ranked sixth. He was sixth in the conference last year.
The Large School girls individual winner last year was Fairmont’s Laura Thompson, who is now a freshman with Augustana University. Current Fairmont sophomore Macy Hanson was second in last year’s conference meet. She’s rated third in Class AA.
Marshall’s girls are fourth in the Class AA team ratings.
The schedule (all races 5000 meters)
4 p.m. - Girls JV
4:30 p.m. - Boys JV
5 p.m. - Girls varsity
5:30 p.m. - Boys varsity
Teams
Small School Division
Blue Earth Area
Jackson Country Central
Luverne
Pipestone Area
Redwood Valley
St. James Area
Windom Area
Large School Division
Fairmont
Marshall
St. Peter
Waseca
Worthington
All-conference Huskies
Jackson County Central runners who have earned either all-conference or honorable mention honors at the Big South Conference meet.
Girls
2014 – Jessica Chrisftoffer, Jadin Bezdicek (HM)
2016 – Jessica Christoffer (HM)
2017 – Jessica Christoffer
2019 – Olivia Anderson (HM)
2020 – Olivia Anderson (HM)
2021 – Olivia Anderson
Boys
2020 – Evan Paplow (HM), Andrew Boyum (HM)
2021 – Andrew Boyum, Evan Paplow (HM)
BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE CROSS COUNTRY
Small School Girls
Team champions
2014 – Redwood Valley (54)
2015 – Luverne (27)
2016 – Luverne (29)
2017 – Luverne (27)
2018 – Luverne (23)
2019 – Luverne (27)
2020 – Luverne (21)
2021 – Luverne (22)
Individual champions
2014 - Madi Schandelmeier, soph., Luverne
2015 - Madi Schandelmeier, jr., Luverne
2016 - Madi Schandelmeier, sr., Luverne
2017 – Tenley Nelson, 8th, Luverne
2018 - Tenley Nelson, fr., Luverne
2019 - Tenley Nelson, soph., Luverne
2020 - Tenley Nelson, jr., Luverne
2021 – Tenley Nelson, sr., Luverne
Small School Boys
Team champions
2014 – Redwood Valley (61)
2015 – Windom (59)
2016 – Windom (32)
2017 – St. James Area (19)
2018 – St. James Area (34)
2019 – St. James Area (21)
2020 – St. James Area (39)
2021 – St. James Area (56)
Individual champions
2014 – Michael Suda, fr., Pipestone
2015 - Michael Suda, soph., Pipestone
2016 – John Irwin, sr., Windom
2017 – Lukas Pierson, sr., St. James Area
2018 – Jayson Peverl, soph., Redwood Valley
2019 – Seth Pierson, sr., St. James Area
2020 – Caleb Rivera, St. James Area
2021 – Will Ahrens, fr., Redwood Valley
BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE CROSS COUNTRY
Large School Girls
Team champions
2014 – Marshall (30)
2015 – Marshall (21)
2016 – Marshall (15)
2017 – Marshall (34)
2018 – Marshall (27)
2019 – Marshall (28)
2020 – Marshall (24)
2021 – Marshall (30)
Individual champions
2014 - Claire Boersma, soph., Marshall
2015 - Claire Boersma, jr., Marshall
2016 - Claire Boersma, sr., Marshall
2017 – Ella Dufault, 7th, Waseca
2018 - Ella Dufault, 8th, Waseca
2019 - Ella Dufault, fr., Waseca
2020 - Ella Dufault, soph., Waseca
2021 – Laura Thompson, sr., Fairmont
Large School Boys
Team champions
2014 – Marshall (38)
2015 – Marshall (21)
2016 – Marshall (28)
2017 – Marshall (33)
2018 – Worthington (42)
2019 – Worthington (27)
2020 – Worthington (32)
2021 – Worthington (16)
Individual champions
2014 – Shane Streich, sr., Waseca
2015 – Cole Streich, jr., Waseca
2016 – Cole Streich, sr., Waseca
2017 – Brett Attenberger, sr., Waseca
2018 – Zachary Matzner, jr., Marshall
2019 – Adam Koller, sr., Worthington
2020 – Mikele Walu, soph., Worthington
2021 – Fanuel Wolday, fr., Worthington