FHS continues to improve with youth powering a resurgence

Bronco junior Stephanie Christianson actually enjoyed the weather Thursday during the 41st annual Hial Pike Invitational at Falls Country Club.
“It was good,” she said after her sixth-place finish out of 55 participants. “It’s nice weather for it. A little windy.”
For the record, it was around 48 degrees and drizzling at the start of the festivities Thursday, but a 19 mph wind made it “feel like” 41, according to www.weather.com.
Then again, maybe any weather would’ve sufficed for Christianson with the way she glowed about her squad.
After bringing up three underclassmen to varsity two meets ago — eighth-graders Amber Harms and Rachel Foss and seventh-grader Amy Auran — the Broncos have a renewed confidence and improved scores.
Thursday they finished fourth out of six teams, but the first- and second-place schools — Grand Rapids and Hibbing — are in a bigger class, and Lake of the Woods is in Section 8A, keeping the Falls’ hopes up in Section 7A.
The final team scores were Grand Rapids (50), Lake of the Woods (54), Hibbing (64), I. Falls (79), Roseau (103) and Virginia (158).
“They’ve given us more confidence and energy that we didn’t have earlier, and it’s pushed some of the older girls to push harder than they have been,” Broncos coach Paul Hjelle said about his young additions.
Scoring for the Broncos and following up Christianson, who finished the 4,000 kilometer course that weaved around the front nine holes at Falls Country Club in 16 minutes, 24.32 seconds, were Harms (14th, 16:34.78), junior Grace Thorstad (20th, 17:13.76), Auran (21st, 17:14.33) and Foss (23rd, 17:18.74).
“They really brought our team up,” Christianson said about Harms, Auran and Foss. “We needed them.”
Senior Breanne Friend (27th, 17:26.39) and sophomore Mackenzie Raboin (28th, 17:27.76), who battled through a hamstring injury, also competed on varsity. Both are in the thick of it to make the top seven for sections and are making practices interesting — and competitive.
Senior Becky Hummel won the junior varsity race in 18:33.36, and fellow senior Alex Ringhofer finished second for the Broncos and fifth overall in 19:02.43. It’s the fourth and final Hial Pike for Ringhofer, who got emotional after crossing the finish line.
“It went really great. We rocked it. Everyone ran a good race,” she said before talking about the bonuses of a home meet.
“We get a lot of fans out,” she said. “You wouldn’t think a lot of people would show up to a cross country meet, but I’m surprised how many people show up from around town.”
The Broncos’ next bit of action is Tuesday at Mesabi East in the Iron Range Conference meet. It’s the last tuneup before sections and Hjelle will be looking to finalize his lineup.
“They’re peaking at the right time,” he said. “They just keep getting better with every meet and that’s what you want this time of year.”