River Valley’s Clare Fischer’s only competition seemed to be herself on Tuesday at the Tomahawk Conference girls’ cross-country meet. Fischer, a senior from New Ulm Cathedral High School, took first overall for the girls in 20:36.86 at the Winthrop Golf Course.

Her best time of the year was 19:30. But Tuesday marked the first time she’s won the Tomahawk meet after finishing second last year.

Fischer thought she ran well even though it was a little warmer than her ideal temperature. She said she’s been pushing herself hard for the upcoming section meet.

“Overall considering the conditions, we’ve been training hard for sections next week (next Thursday in Blue Earth for Section 2A), and then for state, the weather was pretty good, a little windy,” Fischer said. “My ideal would be partly cloudy, 66-degree day, if it’s direct sun, that’s nice and today we had a lot of shade.”

Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke Springfield/Cedar Mountain’s Ben Potter took first at the Tomahawk Conference boys’ cross-country meet Tuesday at the Winthrop Golf Course.

Fischer’s closest competition was Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop eight-grader Madyson Steele, who was second in 21:01.89.

After that, a trio of Springfield/Cedar Mountain runners completed the Top 5. Emmaline McCone (21:21.58), Lillian McCone (21:29.36) and Katie Thram (21:29.64) rounded out the first five runner.

River Valley’s Elle Kyllonen (22:03.93) was sixth and S/CM’s Skyla Dauer (22:44.24) was seventh to round out the All-Conference picks.

S/CM’s Marissa Pabst (22:59.97), GFW’s Abby Willegal (23:05.11) and GFW’s Ashly Vos (23:06.9) were the honorable mention selections.

S/CM won the team competition with 27 points, followed by GFW (59), Wabasso (73) and River Valley (75).

On the boys’ side, S/CM dominated with six runners finishing in the Top 10. S/CM sophomore Ben Potter took first overall (18:52.01), edging teammate Zackary Hensch (18:58.32).

He also said it wasn’t his best time of the year and he had to push himself at the end to keep the lead.

“I knew that it was always a little slow, I don’t know if it’s a little longer or if it’s just the course,” Potter said. “My PR [personal record] is 17:45 and today, the course is slow and I knew that I was going to have to push myself to secure the spot. The first mile was fast and then I slowed down a little bit and everyone started catching me, over the last 800, I decided I was going to give it all I got and it came out in my favor.”

Freshman Matthew Groebner, another runner from S/CM, was third in 19:04.6 and River Valley’s Noah Christenson, also a freshman, was fourth (19:22).

Minnesota Valley Lutheran senior Donavan Witte was fifth overall (19:31.24) and S/CM freshman Triston Groebner took sixth (20:00.78). S/CM senior Logan Richert rounded out the All-Conference boys’ runners with a time of 20:16.03.

River Valley seventh-grader Levi Hagen (20:16.64), S/CM eighth-grader Bryan Buerkle (20:40.39) and MVL junior Isaiah Carlovsky (21:09.28) rounded out the honorable mention picks and the Top 10.

S/CM won the boys’ meet with 17 points. MVL was second with 47 points and Wabasso took third with 79 points.

Section 3A runners will compete next Thursday in Madison and Section 2A will compete next Thursday in Blue Earth.