Photos by Samantha Davis: Wabasso's Andrew Morin runs the course at the Section 3A Championships Thursday afternoon in Madison, finishing in second and advancing to the state tournament. Below: Murray County Central/Fulda's Aiden Appel (2288) runs at sections, and finished in fourth to move onto state. Below: MCC/F's Alexander Betz (2289) approaches the finish line, and earned a bid into state. Below: MCC/F's Matthew Stapek (2295) runs the course, and will also compete at state.

MADISON — Wabasso senior Andrew Morin qualified for the Class A state tournament after taking second place at the Section 3A Championships Thursday afternoon in Madison, while Murray County Central/Fulda’s Aiden Appel, Alexander Betz and Matthew Stapek are also headed to state after top finishes.

“During school today, it was just trying to not think about the race, but at the same time, it’s all I could think about … When I got here, it’s just like, ‘Alright, it’s happening. It is go time.’ Then at the starting line, I don’t know what it was. The only way I could describe it, is just my heart, I could feel it,” Morin said. “The gun goes off, and I’m just doing what comes naturally. As I’m running, I just have the mentality, ‘Get to a spot where you know you’re going to be comfortable and stay there.'”

The top two teams automatically qualify for the state tournament, while the top-6 individuals not a part of the qualifying teams also advance.

MCC/F’s Appel led the team with a fourth-place finish after running a 16:53.60, which was also a personal record. Betz and Stapek crossed the finish line together for ninth and 10th place at 16:58.20 and 16:58.70, respectively. Betz ran a new personal record as well.

Canby/Minneota boys and girls finished as a team in fourth place on both sides, and MCC/F boys came in third, falling just short of a team-state appearance. Redwood Valley and Windom Area took first and second in the team qualifiers for the boys.

Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd finished in sixth as a team, and Lakeview followed in seventh. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove came in 12th, Yellow Medicine East in 15th and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton finished off in 17th. Wabasso as a team took 18th of the 20 teams.

Morin followed close behind Redwood Valley’s Tyler Robinson who took first, finishing eight seconds behind with a time of 16:48.50.

“Tyler, fantastic runner. When he passed me, it was just, ‘Don’t lose sight of him and no one else gets ahead of you,'” Morin added about navigating the race. “When it got to like that last half mile, it was just like, ‘Alright, whatever I have left. This is it.’ Then when I got done, it was just a surreal feeling to know I’m going again [to state]. I know that I did the best that I could.”

Individually around the area, Lakeview’s Tate Remiger had another strong performance for 11th place with a time of 17:00, and fell just short of a state appearance coming 1.3 seconds behind Stapek in 10th.

C/M’s Tallen Merritt and Kendon Knutson placed 23rd and 24th individually, and Brett Stokes followed for 28th. Collin Rosendahl for LQPV/DB ran a 17:48.40 for 18th place, and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s Weston Marten ran an 18:59.7 for 35th place.

In last year’s state tournament, Morin placed 112th out of 159 individual racers, and finished with a time of 17:59.70. He will also be joined by Wabasso freshman Elsie Leopold, who took first overall in the girls race and also going to the state tournament.

“I know that last year, I did not run my best at state. I don’t know what it was, but it was just not a good race for me. It might have been that I got caught in a pack, it might just have been the thought like, ‘Wow, I’m at state. There’s a lot of good runners here,'” Morin said. “I think if I just go in with the mentality, ‘Alright, don’t get pinned at the start, don’t let the bottleneck happen to you. If it gets tough, just start picking people to hang with and then pass.’ That will be my main thing that I focus on.”

Stapek represented MCC/F at last year’s state tournament as well, coming away with a 96th-place finish after running a 17:46.60.

The Class A cross country state tournament is slated for next Saturday at the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course. The boys will race at 10 a.m., with the girls to take the course at 10:45 a.m. The awards ceremony is set for 11:15 a.m.