Cloquet's Anja Maijala marked a time of 14 minutes, 56 seconds to finish third in the Class AAA girls 4-kilometer race at the annual Milaca Mega Meet last Saturday at Stones Throw Golf Course in Milaca, Minn.
Maijala, a sophomore, wasn't the only local runner to finish third. So did good friend and Esko senior Kailee Kiminski, who posted a 15:22.4 in Class AA in leading the Eskomos to 12th place.
Placing fifth overall as a team, the Cloquet boys, meanwhile, were centered by speedy sophomore Isaac Boedigheimer, who led the Lumberjacks with his 5K time of 16:32.6, good for fourth individually.
In Class A, the South Ridge girls claimed fifth place, as well, guided by junior Gracelynn Otis' 10th-place finish, one spot ahead of Carlton sophomore Erika Fox, in 11th. Wrenshall also ran within Class A.
Running is commonplace for Milaca, a small central Minnesota town and host to a longtime meet to which welcomed 148 schools, 4,458 runners and plenty of school buses last weekend.
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Event supporter and Cloquet Coach Mike Bushey, who had his runners pause during warm-up to soak in the cross country-crazed atmosphere, estimated buses stretched nearly a mile away from the course.
"Our driver had never been there before," recalled Bushey. "Even he said 'Wow, that's a lot of buses.’”
