ST. PAUL — It’s official, the communities of Lewiston-Altura, Rushford-Peterson and Houston have themselves a state-winning boys cross country team.
The Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson/Houston boys cross country team saw its top five runners all finish in the top 37 en route to capturing the MSHSL Class 1A state team title with 67 points, well ahead of the 97 points from second-place and section rival Winona Cotter, on Saturday at Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul.
The Ramblers saw sophomore Erik Semling defend his state title with an impressive time of 15 minutes, 19.7 seconds. Teammates Ryan Littlefield and Kellen Groth followed to give the Ramblers the meet’s top three finishers.
Yet, that wasn’t enough to eclipse the impressive team effort by LARPH.
Sophomore Grayson Speltz finished a team-best 11th (16:21), senior Isaac Rasmussen placed 17th (16:31.9), senior Trey Hegland was shortly behind him at 19th (16:33.3), followed by a 22nd-place finish from senior Aaron Ploetz (16:36.7), while sophomore Will Jewison placed 37th (16:48.6).
LARPH is the first boys cross country team from southeastern Minnesota to win a cross country state title since Plainview-Elgin-Millville in 2009.
“It just feels great to feel that all the hard work was worth it,” Rasmussen said. “And that we could really work together as a team to get this done.”
As was the case at the Section 1, Class 1A Championships, and the story all season long, Saturday was all about LARPH’s ability to run as a team.
“I don’t really have any words right now,” LARPH coach Matt Kingsbury said. “I’m just smiling ear to ear right now. I’m still letting it sink in, but I’m really proud of watching the kids run today. Six of the guys went sub-17 today. It was truly a team win today.”
This group was a tad disappointed with their fourth-place finish at state last year. At the time, it was a program-best finish, but LARPH was not satisfied. They attacked the offseason with a vengeance, pushing themselves during the summer. That included a three-week trip to train in the mountains of Colorado.
They entered the season more determined than ever before.
“We learned that we didn’t want to go home sad again,” Rasmussen said. “We really gave it all we could on the course and just worked together.”
They also learned to keep the miles up during the postseason, even after winning a third consecutive Section 1-1A title. They were ready for this moment and didn’t miss it.
“We wanted to race smart. Don’t go up too fast,” Hegland said. “We realized we’re doing it for the team and for the coaches, because they got us this far in the first place, so we have to pay them back.”
Lyle/Austin Pacelli freshman Zemecha McManus led the way when it came to the list of SE Minnesota individual qualifiers. McManus placed 33rd with a time of 16:45.7. St. Charles junior Ivan Daood placed 53rd (17:00.9), RAACHE junior Luke Dirks placed 79th (17:26), Dover-Eyota freshman Nolan Ward placed 85th (17:28.3) and La Crescent-Hokah junior Archie Wolcott placed 111th out of 160 runners (17:49.1).
Lake City’s Olivia Yotter places 11th
Lake City’s Olivia Yotter runs the final 400 meters of the girls race during the Section 1, Class 1A cross country championship meet on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, at Northern Hills Golf Course in Rochester. Yotter finished second with a time of 19:16.7.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
On the girls side, Lake City junior ran to a personal-best time of 18:52.1 to finish 10th — her best finish at state in her fifth trip. It’s the third All-State honor for the Lake City standout, who had placed 13th as an eighth-grader.
She helped lead Lake City to a sixth-place finish at state with 199 points. New London-Spicer won the team title off a tie-breaker with St. Cloud Cathedral, the two programs tied with 97 points.
Lanesboro/Fillmore Central sophomore Autumn Rakosnik earned her second consecutive All-State honor with an 11th-place finish (19:03.2). Rakosnik was with the top group until around the second mile.
Winona Cotter freshman Emma Hatanpa placed 17th (19:20.7) and Goodhue junior Mari O’Connor, who placed 19th (19:24.3), also earned All-State honors. The top 25 individuals earn All-State honors.
O’Connor was the first runner from Goodhue to run at the state cross country meet.
St. John’s Prep junior Margaret Duffy won the individual title by nearly 20 seconds with a time of 17:55.5.
Blooming Prairie junior Gloria Hernandez finished 29th (19:39.1), Hayfield eighth-grader Hadley Doman finished 34th (19:41.6), while La Crescent-Hokah sophomore Hope Docan-Morgan finished 42nd (19:57.8) to round out the SE Minnesota individual qualifiers.
Lourdes finished 13th out of the 16-team field. Allison Deutsch finished 85th (20:48.8), while Olivia Timbers finished 87th overall (20:51.7) to lead the Eagles.