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2017 CC Season Summary Slideshow

3 months summarized in 3 minutes. Enjoy your winter, and we'll see you for track & field in the spring! Thanks to all the race directors, athletic directors, coaches, competitors, parents, grandparents, families, and friends who supported us and made this season possible.

Banquet

Celebrating another CC season! We value each runner who participates, so we strive to recognize each one with words of affirmation and appreciation for their unique part of the team. It may take a while to acknowledge them all, but it brings near-perfect attendance at banquets. :) Thanks to everyone who helped make this a great night--we have the best banquet team, and we appreciate all of your work and creativity. Thanks to our captains for serving the team and to the coaches for investing so much in these student-athletes. Congratulations to those who earned volunteer service awards, varsity letters, athlete of the meet, and other fun awards. And we sure will miss you, seniors! Thanks also to all who supported us this season in various ways.

State 2017

MN State CC meet! Such a great day in so many ways. It was sweet to see Erika gather the Section 5A representatives for a "team huddle," which the other girls loved. And this NIGHTHAWK TEAM! Thank you to all who spent their Saturday with us--Erika is proud to represent you all, and it meant the world to her and our family to have your support. She ran a season best time (19:27), faster than State last year and arguably her best-ever cross country performance. Her 20th place overall earned her All State honors (top 25) for a second time. We've been in this sport long enough to recognize that things don't always fall into place when you want them to, so it's extra special when they do. Thanks to all who made this experience possible! (Lower left photo by MN Prep Photo/www.mnprepphoto.com)

Sections 2017

The Northwest Nighthawks capped the season at the Section 5A cross country meet in Mora with their best performances of the year. In each of the varsity races, there were 137 finishers representing 22 teams.

The boys' team ran a team record time and finished 11th--a huge improvement over their 19th place finish last year. 8th grader Luke Swanson (12th place) led with a team record of 17:26, being just one spot away from individual State qualification in a sport otherwise dominated by upperclassmen. Next came sophomore Grant Olson (60th, 18:54), followed by junior captain Phillip Kippley (65th, 19:05), sophomore Jayden Peterman (76th, 19:16), sophomore Josh Gavin (89th, 19:51), 9th grader Isaac Nielsen (99th, 20:06), and junior AJ Ulwelling (107th, 20:26).

The girls' team ran their second fastest-ever team time and finished 9th--up from 10th place last year. Erika Swanson (3rd place) led with a season best of 19:34, qualifying for the State meet for the third time with one of the best performances of her career. Next came sophomore Margaret Myskowski (51st, 22:08), followed by sophomore Marielle Chamberlain (65th, 22:35), sophomore Jerilynn Simmer (71st, 22:57), senior captain Naomi Brenden (72nd, 23:00), sophomore Erin McGowan (89th, 23:42), and senior captain Sienna Chernyavsky (122nd, 26:20).

Erika is the only girl in our Section this year to be making a third trip to the State meet as an individual qualifier, which is a big accomplishment--maintaining solid performances year after year requires new levels of commitment, strength, and perseverance. She is really maturing as an athlete and as a leader. Part of that comes from experience, but it also comes from working hard at sportsmanship. Have fun and have a great race next weekend, Erika!

The Class A State Championship races will be held at St. Olaf College next Saturday, November 4, at 1:00 P.M. (girls) and 2:00 P.M. (boys). Admission is free for spectators. Be sure to leave plenty of time to park and take the shuttles to the race course.

Lefty

The Lefty Wright meet is a grade-level event that divides the races differently than most (vs. the typical Varsity, JV, and Junior High). While the Varsity teams are preparing for Thursday's Section meets, this is an opportunity for teams to give their non-Section runners one last shot at the 5K. It's a huge meet with hundreds of runners per race, but it's a lot of fun.

Conference

Congratulations to the Nighthawks in their first-ever Conference race! The Twin Cities Athletic Conference (TCAC) is comprised mainly of small private, charter, and other non-traditional schools. We were so thankful to have been welcomed into the group this season and enjoyed being in the mix of competition--plus it was an incredibly beautiful day for the event at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.

The girls took home the Runner-Up plaque (team hardware is a Nighthawk first!), and the boys took 3rd with a record combined team time. Congratulations to our 4 girls and 4 boys who earned All-Conference honors by finishing in the top 15: Erika Swanson (2nd place), Margaret Myskowski (6th), Marielle Chamberlain (8th), and Erin McGowan (11th); Luke Swanson (5th place), Phillip Kippley (12th), Grant Olson (14th), and Drake Fraser (15th); and to all who set season and lifetime PR's today. Go Nighthawks!