MOORHEAD — Dave Herath’s first full weekend of November just got booked solid.
Not since 2007 have the Brainerd Warriors advanced both the girls and boys teams to the same state meet. That changed Thursday, Oct. 29, as the Warrior boys won the Section 8-3A title and the girls’ team finished second, advancing to its 13th state appearance.
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Brainerd senior Jonathan Cowell won the individual title in 15:36.3, pacing the Warriors to a two-point victory over Alexandria.
“We’ve been planning on the bus with what we need to do, but it’s a great busy,” Warrior head coach Herath said. “We knew we had the ability to get there, but you have to pull all of the pieces together. To have both teams run as well as they did, it was just a fantastic day.”
Cowell hoped to crack 15:32 and break Brainerd’s school record of 15:33 held by Justin Grunewald. For now, Cowell will settle for the program’s second-best time with one race remaining.
Cowell broke his previous best by 13 seconds, helping Class 3A’s 11th-ranked Warriors top Alexandria for the second race in a row. Cowell defeated St. Cloud Tech’s Judah Beck by four seconds, leading the Warriors to the program’s eighth state appearance...