The Cotter girls cross country team finished the strongest season in the history of Cotter cross country by placing 2nd at the State championship at St.Olaf in Northfield, Minn. on Saturday, November 4.

After dominating performances at the Three Rivers conference meet in Wabasha and the Section 1A meet in Rochester, the team rose to the #2 ranking in the state behind Perham.

The team had a potentially serious injury problem when 9th grader Grace Ping, the top ranked runner in Class A, was dealing with an injury during the week of the race and it wasn’t clear if she would be able to race.

Ping raced, despite the injury, and fought to a 3rd place finish,  earning 2nd in team scoring.  Her sister, Lauren, a 7th grader, finished 2nd overall and first in team scoring.  The sister were followed up by Morgan Arnold, Aubrey Williams, and Jennifer Lai.  Fatima Mota and Julia Greshik finished 6th and 7th and Grace Menke and Maddie Kohner were the alternates.

While several Rambler runners had personal best times the team finished behind Perham, with a final score of 86 for Perham and 87 for Cotter, both of which were far ahead of the 3rd place finisher.

The girls made a huge leap from the team’s finish in recent years and lose only Lai and Greshik to graduation.

Grace Ping, Lauren Ping, and Morgan Arnold earned all-state recognition.

Cotter Teen Press Olivia Moore and Elanna Kohner spoke to Aubrey and Grace about the season.