Posted: 11/3/04

Mach reaches state with 9th place finish

Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

Forest Lake High School boys cross country senior Matt Mach raced his way into the state cross country meet with a ninth place finish at the section 4AA boys meet last Wednesday at the Goodrich Golf Course.

Mach's personal record time of 16:46 helped him move up from the 12th position he was in at the two and a half mile marker to the ninth position when he crossed the finish line.

As a team, the Rangers accomplished their goal of finishing in the top third of the pack by placing sixth out of 16 teams.

"We saved the best for last," Rangers head coach Bill McElrath said. "The team really triumphed at the section meet."

With Mach as the fastest Ranger of the day, Zach Clark, crossed the line second with a time of 17:16. Freshman Ben Brodin surprised McElrath by crossing the line 17:38 and being the third fastest Rangers runner of the day. Ben Fick (17:44) and Aaron Moen (18:09) rounded out the top five for the Rangers with Kelly Weise (18:13) and Shea Glewwe (18:21) as the other Rangers varsity finishers.

"We kind of stunk the barn at North Branch for the pre-section meet but we had a good positive meeting and the guys realized they had one blip on the radar screen," McElrath said. "We had a great strategy for Mach. We plotted out to take him out with about 800 meters to go because he's a smaller guy so we were afraid he may not have been able to beat some of the guys."

Closing in on the two mile mark, McElrath shouted out to Mach that he was in 12th place and he picked up his pace, gaining a few positions and finally finishing in ninth place.

"I felt really good as a coach coming up with a race strategy and Mach performed it to perfection," McElrath said.

Apart from Mach's personal record, Clark, Moen, Glewwe and Brodin set personal records as well.

"Anytime a kid gets multiple personal records in the year that is a good sign that they are responding well to the training," McElrath said. "Mark Sandiger, Clark, Glewwe and Fick all set multiple personal records. That's really good to see going into next season."

McElrath was impressed with the freshman Brodin as he climbed into the number three spot.

"I just don't know where the bottom of the well is for him," McElrath said. "He just keeps stepping up to the line and knocking off time in big, big chunks."

Looking ahead

Mach will race in the state meet at St. Olaf College on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m.

"We've got some of the guys going down to support Mach and I think once we get them there it will get them fired up and translate into good track times and good summer miles," McElrath said.

With one runner qualifying for the state meet this year, McElrath thinks that excitement and hard work during the off season will only make the returning core of runners that much better. From the varsity runners who will be back to the junior high runners.

"I think the future of our cross country program is really looking up and I would expect to seeing us looking up until we build a top notch program," McElrath said.

With the future looking bright, McElrath is relishing in the now and enjoying the success this year's team has had.

"In retrospect, it was a season of great accomplishments," McElrath said. "We won two invitational meets and had a runner under 17 minutes. Both of those are things this program hasn't had in several years."

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