Running in their lone home meet of the season, New Prague’s cross-country teams posted solid showings Thursday, Sept. 25, at Cedar Lake Farm Regional Park northeast of NP.
The Trojans will be in Owatonna today, Thursday, Oct. 2, at Brooktree Golf Course for an invitational race beginning at 5 p.m. for the girls and 5:30 p.m. for the boys. The race is a chance to preview the course where NP will compete in the section meet Thursday, Oct. 23.
Tuesday, Oct. 7, NP will run in the conference meet at Hyland Greens Golf Course in Bloomington. The girls’ race starts at 3:30 p.m. and the boys begin at 4:05 p.m.
New Prague girls finish fourth With four of its runners finishing in the top 20 competitors, the Trojans took fourth at the invitational meet Thursday at Cedar Lake Farm Regional Park northeast of New Prague.
Bloomington Jefferson won the race with a team score of 34. Owatonna (70) and Waconia (70) finished ahead of the Trojans.
Alaina Bishop posted NP’s best time. She finished in 14th place in 21:42. The NP sophomore ran the first half of the race in 11:01 and then shaved 20 seconds off her time in the second half of the race.
Paige Swanepoel finished 18th in 21:56 and Anna Eichhorst posted a 21:57 time, good for 19th place. NP junior Claire Erickson finished 20th in 21:58. Hannah Zweber finished 34th in 23:26. Norah Wacek finished the race in 23:27, good for 36th place while Laura Wolf finished in 49th place with a time of 25:27.
Wacek’s time gave NP the tie-breaker it needed to edge out Jordan for fourth place.
“The New Prague Cross-Country girls' team displayed remarkable grit and resilience at their home meet this week, the NP Trojan Invite. Despite not being 100% healthy, the team stayed mentally tough, choosing to trust their conditioning and push through the discomfort of their home course,” coach Shawn Brandt said in his post-race comments. “This commitment paid off, with the varsity squad finishing an impressive fourth place out of seven teams, achieving a top-five average time of 22:12. This result was especially notable as the team was ranked fifth coming into the race, making the fourth-place finish a huge accomplishment.”
NP boys take fourth With three runners finishing first, second and third, Bloomington Jefferson won the meet handily with a team score of 27. Waconia finished with a 75 and Jordan came in third at 84.
With all six of their runners finishing in the top...
To see more on this story pick up the October 3, 2025 print edition of The New Prague Times.