Blazing a Trail: Cross Country Makes Inroads at Invitational on Thursday

Seniors Cole O’Brien and Abdulah Silah highlighted a strong overall performance from the Burnsville boys and girls cross country teams on Thursday, which hosted the Blaze Invitational at Nicollet Junior High School.

O’Brien and Silah finished first and second, respectively, in the boys event as the Blaze boys squad finished third overall with 57 points. Only Owatonna and Mahtomedi finished ahead of Burnsville as the two teams tied for first with 53 points.

On the girls side, Burnsville finished sixth with 153 points. Shakopee won the girls event with 59 points.

O’Brien finished the race in 16:36.8, four seconds ahead of his teammate Salah’s 16:40.6 finish. Sophomore Ali hmed finished fourth at 17:01.1 and Shawn Wong finsiehd 13th at 17:29.1. 

Nate Blichfeldt finished 37th at 18:15.5, Sam Houching finished 51st at 18:33.0 and Jake Odom finished 66th at 18:44.8.

On the girls side, sophomore Vivian Hett led the way with a third place finish in 14:58.0. Rissa Lane took 29th at 16:23.1, Johanna Weber took 29th at 16:48.3 and Laura Comee took 47th at 17:16.5. Sierra Adrian took 55th at 17:28.4, Kjerstin Narvesen took 59th at 17:34 and Tori Felton took 68th at 17:54.7.

The Blaze’s next event will be Tuesday, Oct. 4 at the Chaska Invitational.