FARGO — The Fargo Shanley cross country team has plenty to be proud of heading into this weekend’s Class A state meet.

An East Region individual champion, two East Region Senior Athletes of the Year, eight all-conference nods and multiple school records and personal bests falling.

The Deacons girls are ranked No. 4 in the Class A team coaches poll. The boys are ranked No. 5.

Both teams are riding the momentum of their runner-up finishes at the East Region championships into the state meet, which is set for Saturday, Oct. 25, at Parkhurst Campground/Pipestem Reservoir in Jamestown.

The girls kick things off at 2 p.m. with the boys race to follow at 2:45.

“We’ve all just got to do what we know how to do,” Shanley senior Lucy Grothmann said. “Work together, push each other and expect whatever (the competition) throws at us.”

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum

“Just try to focus little-by-little,” senior Quinn Carroll added. “Each day at a time and really just try to think of the team when I’m out there running.”

The Deacons placed eight runners — four girls and four boys — in the Top 20 at the East Region meet on Oct. 11.

On the girls side, junior Mykenna Johnson claimed the East Region individual title with a first-place time of 18 minutes, 17.9 seconds. Grothmann followed in fifth place while junior Mary Wolf and eighth-grader Violet Childress finished 13th and 14th respectively and set new PRs in the process.

The Deacon boys saw five PRs fall at East Region, led by junior Ethan Erickson’s second-place run of 16:03.5. Carroll finished in seventh place followed by sophomores James Chaffee in ninth and Peter Shorma in 15th to round out all-conference honors.

Erickson, Shorma, sophomores Cole Foerster and Aiden Och, and seventh-grader Hayes Chaffee all turned in PRs for Shanley.

“I think our team has exceeded some of our expectations,” Erickson said. “We’ve had a very consistent top four runners, and that fifth runner has been kind of mixed between a decent group. Now, that fifth runner is kind of rounding up and the rest of us are still performing at our best. I hope we can do well at state.”

The records have fallen like meteors for the Deacons this season. Five of the Top 10 girls records at Shanley have been set this year alone, with seven out of the Top 10 held by current team members.

Three of the Top 10 boys records are held by current Shanley runners.

“We had everybody back from last year so we had high expectations,” Shanley head coach Chris Foerster said. “They worked really hard over the summer, more than I think we’ve ever seen.

“Sure enough, first meet of the year, they came out with an explosive start and had a great first meet. The boys have been consistent throughout the season, they’ve stayed right where they are. The girls have had some setbacks with health and other things, but they’ve kind of rebounded, come back and they’re right where they want to be too.”

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Johnson broke the previous girls program record of 19:00.6 — set by Anna Bernhardt in 2018 — during the first meet of the season and has bested it two more times since. Johnson’s 18:01.9 at the Grand Forks Border Battle in September now stands as the current high mark.

Erickson’s 16:03.5 in his runner-up finish at East Region was good for second all-time among Shanley boys. The boys record holder remains Isaac Zimmerman’s 16-flat set in 2003, a mark Erickson is aiming for on Saturday.

“Mostly, I want to try to break 16 (minutes),” Erickson said. “But moreso, try to just maintain my place in the state.”

Erickson ranks No. 5 in the Class A boys individual coaches poll this season and holds the No. 7 time among Class A boys runners this season.

Johnson is holding steady at No. 2 in the girls coaches poll with the second-best Class A girls time while Grothmann checks in at No. 9 in the poll.

“Things have gone really well,” Grothmann said. “We’re making lots of good improvements and everyone’s been working hard.”

Grothmann’s PR of 19:07.5 this season is third all-time among Shanley girls. Senior Lily Elbert checks in at No. 5 in the Deacons’ record book, followed by senior Annika Aakre at No. 6, Wolf at No. 7, Childress at No. 8 and junior Elle Bernhardt at No. 10.

Joining Erickson in the boys record books are Carroll at No. 4 and James Chaffee at No. 7.

Carroll and Elbert were both awarded East Region Senior Athlete of the Year honors. It’s that senior leadership that has meant so much to the Deacons’ success this season.

“Every race, every athlete will have their ups and downs,” Foerster said. “But you kind of come to that end as a senior, and there’s just a little extra something that’s in it. When you know it’s the last race you’ve got, you just go out there and something pretty special can happen.”

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum

Both the Shanley girls and boys teams finished runner-up to Fargo Davies at the East Region competition. The Deacons girls finished with 59 points to the Eagles’ 53 while the Deacons boys recorded 61 points to Davies’ 28.

“We have a good battle going with Davies,” Foerster said. “Our girls were very close. We were six points off at (East Region) and we hope we can flip that at state. Our boys, a little bigger difference there, but we’ll try to close that gap.”