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The Princeton meet is known as the biggest high school cross country meet in the world. The meet is divided into three divisions (A,AA,andAAA). The Bulldogs competed in Class A, which had 40 teams alone .

The Bulldogs, the defending champions of the Class A race at Princeton, ran to a fifth-place finish this year, matching their fifth-place ranking in the state.

Canby-Lincoln-Minneota, rated third in Class A in the state, won the meet, followed by Staples-Motley, ranked first. St. Cloud Cathedral, rated only 12th, took third, and Plainview, rated second, took fourth.

Coach Darrel Carstens said the Bulldogs can do even better against state-rated competition. "We had a tough week of training and looked tired. We are definitely better and will move forward," he said. "We belong with the top in the state, and I'm confident."

The meet was won by Pat Lehmann of Plainview in 16:09.

Senior Dan Pearson led the Bulldogs once again. He took 13th with a time of 16:55.

Senior Jesse Rien ran the sloppy course in 17:30, which put him in 31st. Eleven seconds later, junior Riley Flanders (pictured above right) crossed the finish line in 39th.

Juniors Tommy Flannigan and Freddie Stock ran very close again, finishing just one second apart. Flannigan came in 74th. Stock increased his speed the whole race to end up just a second behind Flannigan in 75th.

Senior Scott Thompson ran his first race after taking some time off due to a knee injury. Thompson finished in 81st. Thompson has not been able to train fully yet and should only improve as the year goes on.

Also braving the bad weather was senior Jamie Wendlandt, who finished 135th.

The team now has an idea of where they're at and is setting goals for the rest of the season. "The key is Cathedral," said Carstens. "As a section rival we need to rise up to them and meet the challenge."

"This team has worked hard and we'll put this to the test in the coming weeks as we move forward," Carstens added.

The Bulldogs have their only home meet on Thursday at the Koronis Hills Golf Course.

Team Scores
1. Canby-Lincoln-Minneota 128
2. Staples-Motley 130
3. Cathedral 191
4. Plainview 222
5. Paynesville 233
6. New London-Spicer 324
7. Perham 367
8. United South Central 385
9. Mesabi East 400
10. Kingsland 464
11. Mora 477
12. Montgomery/Lonsdale 487
13. Chatfield 517
14. Concordia Academy 520
15. Minnehaha Academy 537
16. Lake City 552
17. Pine City 560
18. Albany 573
19. Chisholm 581
20. Madelia 608
21. Bagley-Fosston 626
22. Adrian 637
23. Redwood Valley 677
24. Blue Earth 700
25. Delano 716
26. Lake Crystal 829
27. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 861
28. Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's 972
Twelve teams posted incomplete scores.

Individual Results
13. Dan Pearson 16:55
31. Jesse Rien 17:30
39. Riley Flanders 17:41
74. Tommy Flannigan 18:18
75. Freddie Stock 18:19
81. Scott Thompson 18:30
135. Jamie Wendlandt 19:08