Hermantown’s cross country program made the most of its chance to serve as host at one of Minnesota’s premier meets, turning in standout performances at the Swain Invitational on Saturday at Enger Park Golf Course in Duluth.
The Hawks girls finished second in the team standings, just seven points shy of champion St. Peter, while seventh-grader Nora Lucarelli led the charge with a third-place individual finish. She was followed closely by her sister, eighth-grader Zoey Lucarelli, who placed fourth, and junior Ferrah LaLone, who finished fifth. Eighth-grader Kenzie Davis added a top-10 finish in 10th place, and seventh-grader Kara Holst rounded out Hermantown’s scoring pack in 19th.
“The return of The Swain Invitational was a huge success, and being the host school for it made the day a little more stressful from a coach’s perspective, but also a lot more exciting,” Hermantown coach Andy Wilcox said. “I had been planning the return of this meet since last January. We had 43 teams and almost 1,200 runners on the course.”
On the boys’ side, junior Cooper Lucarelli paced the Hawks with a seventh-place finish overall, giving Hermantown a strong presence near the front of a deep and talented field.
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Hermantown rolled to an 8-0 victory over Legacy Christian Academy in a Section 7A boys soccer quarterfinal on Tuesday, fueled by a four-goal outing from Quinn Raukar.
The Hawks wasted little time building a lead. Jack Johnson scored in the third minute off a pass from Hunter Nelson. Raukar followed with his first goal in the 14th, assisted by Nelson, and Keegan Bradley added another in the 18th from Raukar. Raukar struck again in the 38th minute to make it 4-0 at halftime.
Raukar completed his hat trick in the 42nd minute on an assist from Brennan Malmstrom and scored his fourth goal six minutes later. Nelson closed out the scoring with goals in the 55th and 65th minutes, one assisted by Raukar.
Hermantown split time in net, with Ethan Aysta making five saves and Josh Olsen adding three. Legacy Christian goalkeeper Christian Zanter stopped eight shots.
The Hawks will visit Duluth Marshall in a semifinal Thursday at 4 p.m.
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Hermantown defeated host North Branch 3-1 in a Section 7AA girls soccer quarterfinal on Tuesday.
The Hawks advance to face top-seeded Cloquet at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Wood City.