Two boys to state
With one spot to the Class AA State Meet up for grabs for six teams, every place counted, and in the end, it was Chanhassen that came away with the second-place finish with 109 points.
Chaska, which did send two individual runners, was one point behind at 110. Delano (116), Buffalo (118), Missota Conference champion Shakopee (138) and Marshall (139) were also in the hunt.
Fourth-ranked Hutchinson captured its first section title since 1984 with a score of 60.
Spencer Urick and Zac Miller, both underclassmen, continued their surge toward the top, placing third and seventh individually. Urick checked in at 16:24.8 with Miller exactly 10 seconds behind him.
Senior Nathan Hewitt missed state by one place, taking 13th overall in a time of 16:58 - one-tenth of a second behind the last qualifier in Alex Carrabre of Waconia.
It was a tough finish for Hewitt, who was described as "classy" by Chanhassen Head Coach Andy Powell, stating the Hawks senior captain came to their team and shook every guy's hand, congratulating them on the team qualification.
"We're definitely happy for those guys. We kind of expected (Spencer and Zac) to make it and we were hoping Nathan would join them. It was so close. They all work so hard in practice, so it paid off for them," Perrill said.
Chaska was in a position to have a shot at state with fourth and fifth runners, Sam Shay and Parker Bjorklund, crossing the line with two of their best times of the season in 17:48.5 and 17:50.8 for 42nd and 45th places, respectively.
Hewitt and Matt Torntore (18:05) were the lone seniors in the varsity line-up.
