Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys cross-country team first, girls third at Gopher Conference Meet at Blooming Prairie CC

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys and girls cross-country teams played host to the 9-team Gopher Conference meet at the Blooming Prairie Country Club Monday, and in a fantastic day for BP, the Blossoms boys squad ran their way to their first conference cross-country championship since 1999, while the girls team finished third, and a total of nine Blooming Prairie runners earned some type of All-Conference honor overall.

In the boys competition, the Blossoms, who finished runners-up in the conference meet in 2019, 2021 and 2022 broke through with a first-place total of 43 points Monday, well ahead of runner-up WEM/JWP in second place with 60 points, and Maple River in third place with 71 points.  Will Sunde and Ty Forystek were sixth and seventh, respectively, with times of 19:14 and 19:19, Breckin Cochlin finished 11th with a time of 20:16, Derek Kubicek was 14th for the Blossoms Monday with a time of 21:27, and Isaac Fort finished 17th with a time of 21:28.  Sunde was named 1st Team All-Conference Monday, whle Forystek and Cochlin were both named 2nd Team All-Conference, and Kubicek and Fort were both named Honorable Mention All-Conference.

In the girls competition, Blooming Prairie finished in third place behind champion Maple River and runner-up WEM/JWP.  Gloria Hernandez ran the best time for the Blossoms Monday as she finished second at 21:07, Sophia Esplan was eighth overall for BP with a time of 23:47, Haley McIntosh finished 11th with a time of 23:53, Bella Romo took 20th with a final time of 24:48, and Rachel Winzenburg was 43rd with a time of 27:54.  Hernandez was named 1st Team All-Conference for the Blossoms Monday, while Esplan and McIntosh both garnered 2nd Team All-Conference status, and Romo was named Honorable Mention All-Conference Monday.