The Amherst High School boys cross country team advanced
to the State Meet for the first time since 2000 after they finished second at
the WIAA Division 3 Sectional at Standing Rocks County Park Saturday, Oct. 22.

“After we lost by seven points last year (at the
Sectional), that really just kind of drove us to get there, and it was a team
effort,” said junior Cole McKenzie. “We’re all psyched about it, and the goal
is to take at least the Top 10.

“And everyone did really well this year, so I’m really
happy,” he said. “Seth (Barnes) and Ben (Lansing) have been great captains.”

Last year, Amherst totaled 96 points at the Sectional
to finish third behind Rosholt (50) and Laconia (89) to just miss advancing to
state.

On Saturday, McKenzie led the way for the Falcons, as
he finished ninth overall in 17:38.

Sophomore Adam Wise was 13th, followed by junior
Sawyer Eiden (16th), junior David Rieck (19th), senior Seth Barnes (23rd),
junior Trent Miller (37th) and junior Robert Johannes (72nd).

“This is only my second year doing cross country, but
I think that one of the biggest jumps was just losing last year,” said
McKenzie, who finished 31st at the Sectional last year. “That really wanted me
to push myself forward. Just losing last year by seven points, we came in
third, and seven points is nothing, so that was really just kind of grinding,
and I kept that in the back of my head all year.

“Today, I was just trying to think, ‘stay Top 10, stay
Top 10 and stay ahead of the Rosholt guys,’” he said. “We had a really fast
first mile, this is a lot harder of a course to PR on, but I think that there
was a lot of energy today, and that just kind of pulled everyone forward.”

When the final scores were posted, 10th-ranked Rosholt
had 50 points to win the Sectional Title, while Amherst finished with 75 points
to place second ahead of Princeton/Green Lake (130) and Bonduel (141) to also
advance to state as a team.

“We worked our butts off for an entire year for this,
and it’s just great to know that we’re going,” said McKenzie. “I’m really,
really happy and excited about it.”