McAllister third, Mangan fourth at Fergus

FERGUS FALLS - Brainerd's Hannah McAllister placed third and Pat Mangan fourth in Tuesday's Fergus Falls Invite at Spidal's Ski Resort.

McAllister finished the 5-kilometer girls' classic event at 19:13, six seconds behind winner Mindy Drotts of Deer River. Summer Elefson of Elefson Home School was second.

"At the start it was Hannah, Summer and Mindy," Warriors coach Nicole Kellerman said. "They stayed together the entire race and finished within seconds of each other. That was pretty cool.

"Hannah and Mindy have been going back and forth quite a bit. Mindy is maybe a stronger classic skier, Hannah is probably better skating. It will make for an exciting race at sections."

Brainerd's Jenna Ruzich was 12th, Tina Borgstrom 14th and Rachael Howard 18th.

In the boys' 5km classic race, Mangan finished in 17:34, less than a minute off the pace set by Conrad Roberts of Battle Lake.

Brainerd's Ross Duval was 11th, Tyler Vanderlinden 12th, Michael Montgomery 15th and Josh Murrey 17th.

"All the boys improved their times," Kellerman said. "Pat was pretty excited when he crossed. He was within a minute of Conrad Roberts, which shows a huge improvement on Pat's part. He was right behind two Detroit Lakes guys and has improved greatly."

No team scores were kept in the five-team meet, which also included Bemidji, Fergus Falls, Detroit Lakes and Deer River.

Boys winner: Conrad Roberts (BL) 16:48

Brainerd boys: 4-Pat Mangan 17:34, 11-Ross Duval 19:40, 12-Tyler Vanderlinden 19:53, 15-Michael Montgomery 20:19, 17-Josh Murrey 20:57

Girls winner: Mindy Drotts (Deer River) 19:07

Brainerd girls: 3-Hannah McAllister 19:13, 12-Jenna Ruzich 23:20, 14-Tina Borgstrom 24:25, 18-Rachael Howard 26:38

Brainerd junior varsity girls: 4-Emily Dumbeck 26:59, 6-Tomi Majerus 27:25, 12-Jennifer Murray 29:01

Next: Brainerd in Central Lakes Conference meet at 1 p.m. Thursday at Willmar.