Simley's Freed, Wellens Place in State Cross Country Meet

It was a good afternoon for Simley High School's runners in the Minnesota high school state cross country meet Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

Eighth grader Margie Freed was 34th overall out of 158 runners in a time of 15:07.02 in the girls Class AA 4,000-meter race.

Senior Max Wellens, the first Spartan to compete at state in three decades according to coach Tim Kersey, was 62nd out of 158 runners in the boys Class AA race in 16:42.

“Our strategy for Margie was for her to get out and run off the flank of the chase pack,” said Simley head cross country coach Tim Kersey. “She ran a solid first mile. She had a really good start overall and even had some space.”

Freed continued to pass runners during the race, an indication the pre-race strategy was working.

“She finished 34th, which is about what were hoping,” Kersey said. “There’s a lot of good runners there. She had a great week of practice and had a very solid race.”

“For Max we had a different game plan as far as him getting out and establishing position,” Kersey said. “But he went out too fast and when I saw him at the mile mark he was already hurting with two thirds of the race still to come. To his credit he was able to rally off that.

“At the two mile he was slowing down, but he continued to fight it and got some time back in the woods,” Kersey said. “His time of 16:42 was a little off his region time as a result of him probably him getting out a little too fast. But it was an outstanding season for Max.”