Thunderbird girls complete at State Cross Country Meet

It was a little chilly on Saturday but that didn’t phase the GFW Thunderbird girls cross country team and its fans. The T-Birds ran in the State Cross Country Meet, a first for the program. Fans greeted them early Saturday morning at GFW High School to give them a rousing sendoff. Of the 16 teams that participated at State, GFW finished in 15th place. Perham finished in first place with 56 points, St. Cloud Cathedral second at 78 and Staples-Motley third at 107. The State Champion was Jade Rypkema of Nevis who ran the race in 17 minutes 43.5 seconds. Mady Steele was GFW’s top runner on the day, placing 46th in a time of 20:16.6. Next in line for the T-Birds was Ashley Vos who placed 103rd in a time of 21:30.5 Kelby Bruns was next for GFW in a time of 22:34.9 and placing 133rd. Abigail Willegal was 143rd in a time of 23:06. Rounding out GFW’s squad were Taylor Bauer at 25:04.7 and Isabelle Vos at 25:07.4.