Cross Country State Meet, 2022: Class AA Girls
Posted: Saturday, November 5, 2022 - 4:06 PM
St. Paul Highland Park junior Luna Scorzelli powered the Scots to a successful Class AA title defense in the Minnesota State High School League's Cross Country State Meet on Saturday, Nov. 5.
Luna Scorzelli watched from the sideline a year ago, recovering from an injury, as her St. Paul Highland Park teammates captured the Minnesota State High School League’s Class AA Girls Cross Country state championship. Fast forward a year, and the junior was right in the thick of it. Scorzelli paved the way for St. Paul Highland Park to successfully defend its team title while winning a championship of her own on Sa
She covered the 5,000-meter course on the St. Olaf College campus in Northfield in a time of 17 minutes, 45.1 seconds. Hutchinson junior Isabelle Schmitz, the Class AA champion in 2021, was runner-up, 33.1 seconds behind. Jordan senior Kendra Krueger was third in 18:28.6.
St. Paul Highland Park won the team title for the second consecutive year with 79 points. Alexandria was runner-up with 105 and Marshall was third at 125.
In addition to Scorzelli, also scoring for the Scots were sophomore Ellie Moore, senior Delia Johnson, sophomore Samantha Palm and sophomore Grace Lewis-Mosher.
Leading the pack was Scorzelli, who led from the start in averaging 5:42.5 per mile for the 3.1-mile race. At the mile mark, she and Schmitz were virtually shoulder to shoulder, with Scorzelli hold a three-tenths of a second lead. That grew to nearly an eight-second advantage at the two-mile mark.
“This was my ultimate goal,” she said afterward. “I am really happy with it.”
Earlier this season, Scorzelli led St. Paul Highland Park to a fifth-place finish at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational. She finished ninth overall in what may have been a prelude to come for the League’s Cross Country State Meet.
