In just his second Watercade four mile run, 15-year-old Ben Ammermann of Litchfield crossed the line first Saturday morning at Lake Ripley.
His time of 23:01.84 was good for a sizable win ahead of White Bear Lake’s Ryan Adams (23:34.62), 34, and defending champion, Adam Anderson (24:06.9), 18, of Dassel.
Anderson matched his winning time in 2016.
All times referenced are chip times as listed on www.gopherstateevents.com.
Ammermann said winning wasn’t an overarching goal, but he made sure to know where he stood throughout the race.
“I looked back a lock a lot to see where they were,” Ammermann said. “Me and Adam, we were running together for about five minutes on the other side of the like, side by side.”
Ammermann was Litchfield High School’s top cross country and track and field distance runner as a freshman last school year. He didn’t have a specific time in mind, but was all smiles after beating his 26:28 mark that earned him eighth place last year.
From a current LHS cross country star to a former is female race winner, Ali McGraw. The 20-year-old and current College of St. Benedict cross country member, defended her title coming in at 26:4792.
“I just ran (Miles 4 Marcus) around Lake Manuella and I ran 29 minutes flat,” McGraw said. “My goal here is I just wanted to do better than that.”
McGraw took advantage of a flatter Watercade course and cooler temperatures to break 29 minutes and the 28:25 mark she set in 2016.
Like Ammermann, McGraw was in lock step with the competition before pulling ahead.
“I’ll just see what girls are running and I’ll just try to stick with whoever’s running,” McGraw said of her pre-race plan. “That’s kind of what I did the first two miles, I got stuck with the other girl.”
There were 25 other female runners from Litchfield in the race. Few, if any, have logged as many miles around Lake Ripley as McGraw.
“I live a half mile from the lake, so I run around the lake almost every day,” McGraw said.
The weather cooperated with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s around race time with sunny skies and light wind.
Participation included 145 four-mile runners, down four from 2016. Sixty-nine runners competed in the kids one-mile run. There were runners representing 43 cities across six states.
Laura Sunnarborg, 12, of Minnetrista was the overall winner with a time of 6:38.87. Mason Green, 9, of Litchfield was the boys winner at 6:41.97.
Event organizers were Jason Michels and Gabby Johnson.
July 8 in Litchfield
Male: 1. Ben Ammermann, Litchfield, 23:01.84; 2. Ryan Adams, White Bear Lake, 23:34.62; 3. Adam Anderson, Litchfield, 24:06.9; 4. Gabriel Stassen, Hutchinson, 25:13.05; 5. Mark Mortenson, Litchfield, 25:18.21
Female: 1. Ali McGraw, Litchfield, 26:47.92; 2. Haylee Hastad, Fargo (North Dakota), 27:10.27; 3. Amy Dettman, St. Bonifacius, 27:37.08; 4. Tracy Ost, Spicer, 27:39.43; 5. Annie Kopplin, Minneapolis, 27:48.94
Female age division leaders. Top three received medals
12 and under: 1. Jorja Gabrielson, Litchfield, 29:31.46; 2. Avery Lommel, Delano, 37:13.71
13-15: 1. Brooke Baumann, Winsted, 29:00.51; 2. Nora Lagergren, Litchfield, 31:29.97; 3. Sarah Karline, Jordan, 31:59.5
16-18: 1. Rebecca Schmidt, Darwin, 29:28.38; 2. Karee Joedeman, Litchfield, 32:12.43; 3. Leigh Rosenthal, Burnsville, 43:46.08
19-24: 1. Ali McGraw, Litchfield, 26:47.92; 2. Haylee Hastad, Fargo (North Dakota), 27:10.27; 3. Kaitlyn Johnson, Litchfield, 33:25.1
25-29: 1. Annie Kopplin, Minneapolis, 27:48.94; 2. Jammie Klobes, Grove City, 32:57.01; 3. Kate Gustafson, Cokato, 33:59.26
30-34: 1. Alisha Kruggel, Hutchinson, 30:45.82; 2. Amber Huberty, Watkins, 31:34.77; 3. Katie Okland, Willmar, 37:29.19
35-39: 1. Amy Dettman, St. Bonifacius, 27:37.08; 2. Rebekah Fawcett, Plymouth, 32:56.45; 3. Laura Doege, Chaska, 33:52.35
40-44: 1. Julie Dengerud, Grove City, 31:07.46; 2. Trisha Kruse, Cosmos, 36:22.6; 3. Candace Boerema, Litchfield, 37:30.38
45-49: 1. Tracy Ost, Spicer, 27:39.43; 2. Stacy Stockman, Glencoe, 31:22.23; 3. Marcia Stassen, Hutchinson, 31:40.03
50-54: 1. Karen Zimmer, Litchfield, 36:25.68; 2. Paula Sandberg, Ham Lake, 37:52.64
55-59: 1. Cathy Haugo, Litchfield, 43:03.4; 2. Jan Nelson, Litchfield, 55:09.27
60-64: 1. Jan Jutz, Litchfield, 33:33.46, 2. Sally Hulbert, Litchfield, 41:18.42; 3. Maria Balbo, Litchfield, 43:03.39
Male age division winners. Top three received medals
12 and under: 1. Tyler Bargman, Blaine, 33:30.93; 2. Evan Block, Litchfield, 35:52.9; 3. Owen Carlson, Litchfield, 40:55.9
13-15: 1. Ben Ammermann, Litchfield, 23:01.84; 2. Gabriel Stassen, Hutchinson, 25:13.05; 3. Andrew Joedeman, Litchfield, 28:06.67
16-18: 1. Adam Anderson, Dassel, 24:06.9; 2. Payton Prahl, Litchfield, 29:02.45; 3. Daniel Williamson, Spicer, 53:14.66
19-24: 1. Dan Gustafson, Cokato, 38:52.11
25-29: 1. Daniel Felt, Plymouth, 28:41.26; 2. Corey Carpenter, Hutchinson, 33:21.73; 3. Chad Hansen, Annandale, 34:30.08
30-34: 1. Ryan Adams, White Bear Lake, 23:34.62; 2. Matthew Mauritz, Litchfield, 30:42.53; 3. Adam Stern, Sherman Oaks (California), 37:18.1
35-39: 1. Tim Sluka, Litchfield, 28:42.87; 2. Jason Collins, Willmar, 29:51.33; 3. Justin Kilchenmann, Naperville (Illinois), 31:21.09
40-44: 1. John Grabow, Litchfield, 29:41.96; 2. Tyler Huikko, Dassel, 30:37.2; 3. Lance Juffer, Lakeville, 36:45.5
45-49: 1. Mark Mortenson, Litchfield, 25:18.21; 2. Steve Lagergren, Litchfield, 31:38.45; 3. Darian Westerlund, Saint Paul, 31:50.37
50-54: 1. Jim Watt, Litchfield, 26:37.57; 2. Bryan Joedeman, Litchfield, 33:00.9; 3. Douglas Hughes, Silver Lake, 33:26.8
55-59: 1. Tom Ost, Spicer, 27:11.4; 2. Stuart Giere, Spicer, 29:57.26; 3. Loren Broberg, Dassel, 38:15.67
60-64: 1. Allen Saunders, Benson, 27:27.56; 2. Richard Score, Spicer, 29:31.9; 3. Paul Borscheid, Hutchinson, 30:30.59
65-69: 1. Ron Hansen, Darwin, 54:40.53
70 and over: 1. Craig Kay, Dassel, 35:43.94; 2. Stephen Peters, Litchfield, 36:16.66; 3. Howard Anderson, Fort Meyers (Florida), 47:13.49
Kids one-mile run
Top five: 1. Laura Sunnarborg, Minnetrista, 6:38.87; 2. Mason Green, Litchfield, 6:41.97; 3. Dylan Tuschen, 6:55.89; 4. Joshua Blomberg, 7:04.62; 5. Max Grabow, Litchfield, 7:08.7
Copyright 2017 Litchfield Independent Review/Crow River Media/Media News Group.