Page 18 Stillwater Ponies Fall Sports Preview • Friday , September 6 , 2024 stillwatergazette . com
GIRLS CROSS-COUNTRY Ponies banking on steady improvement this season
Head coach — Rob Greer ( 2nd year ).
Assistant coaches — Jeny Archibald .
Last season — The Ponies fi nished 7th in the SEC Meet and placed 6th in the Section 4AAA meet .
2024 captains — Evelyn Armstrong , Casey Johnston , Eden Letourneau , Elsie Rush and Kathryn Wiens .
Who ’ s gone — The Stillwater girls cross-country team graduated just one runner from its section lineup , but Meredith Christensen was a reliable performer who was the team ’ s second finisher in both the conference and section meets .
Christensen was joined by Rachel Francis , Julia Kustritz and Lily Smith in serving as captains .
Who ’ s back — Junior Greta Shockey represented the Ponies in the state meet a year ago after placing fourth in the Section 4AAA Meet . She is expected to set the pace for a team that returns several runners with prior varsity experience .
Seniors Casey Johnston and Kathryn Wiens join several from a large junior class that includes Ruby Peterson , Amanda Arkell and Anya Schultz . Sophomores Brynne Laska , Thalia Drexel and Margret Wiens also feature prior varsity experience , along with freshman Amelia Bonestroo .
Laska was a member of Stillwater ’ s state lineup as an eighth-grader in 2022 .
Others — If the Ponies can remain healthy there should be plenty of competition for spots in the top seven . The five runners in the middle of Stillwater ’ s conference lineup a
Seniors for the Stillwater girls cross-country team include , from left , Kathryn Wiens , Evelyn Armstrong , Eden Letourneau , Casey Johnston and Elsie Rush .
year ago were separated by less than 24 seconds .
Additional runners who could contribute this season include senior Eden Letourneau , juniors Scarlet Huelsmann , Addison Bergstad and Lexie Dougherty , and freshmen Nikola Dawson and Rachel Malmgren .
Conference — Mounds View was the top team in the Suburban East Conference a year ago on the way to a fourth-place finish at state .
The Mustangs held off Forest Lake and Woodbury to win the conference title and should be strong again with three of their top four finishers at state expected to return .
Forest Lake will build around reigning individual state champion Norah Hushagen and fourthplace finisher Anna VanAcker while Woodbury used a more balanced approach to place 10th at state .
Those teams should be strong again and will also make climbing the ladder tough for teams like Stillwater , which also placed behind White Bear Lake , Roseville and East Ridge in the conference meet a year ago .
“ Mounds View had a very solid showing at the end of last year by mostly lower grade levels so they have the potential to be really strong this year ,” Ponies coach Rob Greer said . “ Forest Lake and Woodbury consistently have very solid teams . It will be interesting to see what happens with the first wave of race results .”
Section — Stillwater lost a tie-breaker with St . Paul Central to finish sixth in Section 4AAA a year ago when Woodbury held off Two Rivers by six points to claim the title .
White Bear Lake wasn ’ t far behind in third place , followed by East Ridge , Central , and the Ponies . White Bear Lake did send three individual qualifiers to the state meet .
Last year ended a run of five consecutive appearances at state for the Ponies .
“ It will be interesting to see how Woodbury , Two Rivers and White Bear Lake look coming out of the first race results ,” Greer said .
Outlook — The Ponies are taking a measured approach but remain optimistic they can improve upon their results from a year ago .
“ We are expecting to see a lot of individual improvement and an average of two places better from a team position over last year ,” Greer said . “ The keys to these goals are going to be be keeping the girls strong and healthy and focusing on incremental improvements .”
Quotable — “ We are going to have a fun-filled and exciting year ,” Greer said . “ Our team is coming in with a lot more experience and development than last year . We have a solid endurance base to build on . Our biggest area for improvement is top end speed .”
Notable — Stillwater has qualified for the state
See Girls CC , Page 19