NORWOOD YOUNG AMERICA — Minnesota Valley Lutheran qualified a pair of runners to the Class A State Cross-Country Meet this year following Thursday afternoon’s Section 2A Cross-Country Championships at Baylor Park.

The top two teams at the meet and next best six individuals qualified for the state meet from both the girls and boys race.

The girls teams qualifying for state after taking first and second, respectively, where Mankato Loyola/Cleveland and Mountain Lake Area.

Chargers standout junior Natalie Matzke qualified for the girls state meet after finishing seventh with yet another PR and school record-setting time of 19:34.52. She set the school record earlier this season and then broke her own record again last week at the South Central Conference Championships.

Sibley East also had a girls runner qualify for state in senior Paige Gardiner, who finished eighth on Thursday with a season-best time of 19:43.22.

Also from the area, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s/Sleepy Eye/New Ulm Cathedral had a pair of girls in the top 20 in Millie Lax and Emma Hagen, who took 17th (20:57.54, PR) and 18th (21:05.35), respectively. Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop had a girls runner just outside of the top 20 as Madyson Steele took 21st with a time of 21:14.05. MVL’s Faith Peters finished 22nd with a time of 21:16.16, a PR.

The boys teams taking first and second and qualifying for state, respectively, were Loyola/Cleveland and Sibley East.

Sibley East’s state-qualifying team consisted of Julio Alejandro (third place, 16:38.32), Gage Horstman (fourth, 16:39.64), Mausten Krueger (16th, 17:34.53), Ellyot Allen (25th, 17:53.39), Nolan Fisher (44th, 18:46.62), Jesse Ballalatak (52nd, 19:06.73) and Tanner Johnson (81st, 20:02.9).

MVL saw one boy qualify for state as senior Jeremy Feistner had a PR finish of 16:51.91 for 10th place. Madelia had one boys runner qualify for state as Caleb DeCann took seventh with a PR time of 16:48.75.

MVL also saw Titus Kohls turn in a PR time of 17:16.08 to finish 14th. SM/SE/NUC’s Max Fischer finished in the top 20 also, taking 18th with a PR time of 17:36.6, while Madelia’s Tyrone Stout took 19th with a PR time of 17:36.83.

The state meet will take place on Nov. 1 at the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course.