Pequot's Lydeen enjoying success
Area athlete of the week
Silas Lydeen is finally enjoying the fruits of his labor.
One reason is the senior for the Pequot Lakes Patriots cross country team has improved. The bigger reason is his mentor, Clayton Foster, the runner he chased his first two varsity seasons, has graduated.
Silas Lydeen
"It's great," said Lydeen, about adding gold medals to the numerous silvers he earned last year. "It's exciting because this is the first year I've been getting first places on the varsity. I feel like a leader."
Lydeen picked up two gold medals last week as he won the Northland-Deer River Invite with a time of 16:57 and the McGregor Invite in 17:36.
The Pequot Lakes boys won both events.
Silas Lydeen
Year: Senior
School: Pequot Lakes
Sport: Cross country
Key stat: Won the Northland-Deer River and McGregor invites.
"He had a million second-place medals, but now he's getting first places," said Patriots head coach Jon Dale. "He's handling that well. He's a low-key kid. He doesn't have a big head or anything like that. He and Clayton still talk and are very close. But Silas is running very well this year."
Lydeen was 11th in the 20-team Mega Meet at Milaca Sept. 26. He finished the course in 17:26.3.
Two days before that, Lydeen led Pequot to a victory at the Pillager Invite. Lydeen won the race with an 18:12. He placed fourth at the Bagley/Fosston Invite Sept. 22 in 17:20.46 and won the Wildwedge Invite in 18:10.
"He's a disciplined, strong runner," said Dale. "I think he goes with the pack and it doesn't matter how fast the pack goes out. He can hang on or he can't, but he's so strong-willed that he usually hangs."
Mid-State Conference champion and returning to state are his goals.
Lydeen ran a 16:55.2 in last season's Class 1A state meet at St. Olaf College to finish 26th individually. He was the 14th runner on the team to help Pequot place third at state for the second straight season.
As a sophomore, Lydeen placed 50th overall with a 17:22.5 at state.
"This year, if I make it, and I'm pretty confident I will, I'm definitely going to start up near the front and not hang back in the middle," Lydeen said. "I want to keep my pace, not slow down and speed up. I just want to keep that one pace. Then I just want to give it everything I have. It's my senior year and I want to give it all."
A unique parallel exists between Lydeen and Foster. As a freshman Foster finished 50th. Lydeen got there as a sophomore. As a sophomore Foster finished 25th. Lydeen was 26th last season. Foster finished his final two seasons with a fifth and a second.
"I'm going for 3.5 this year," said Lydeen with a laugh. "Really my goal is top 10. I'm looking at probably around 16:40. That's what I want. If I can get into the 16:30s that would be better."
With Pequot's move into Section 8-1A this season, Dale said it's not a shoe-in for Lydeen to make the state meet, but like Lydeen, Dale's confident in his senior leader.
"Section 8 is very difficult," Dale said. "There are a lot of good teams and Silas knows that. He knows if he just keeps working, and he's running well in practice, he's got a shot. He's pretty focused."
Other notable performances:
Football: Levi Allen, Pine River-Backus, rushed for 139 yards and four touchdowns against Blackduck.
John Omann, Pierz, rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns and returned a punt 60 yards for a score Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa.
Amos Schmidt, Verndale, rushed for 151 yards and a touchdown against Hillcrest Lutheran Academy.
Blake Petrich, Staples-Motley, rushed for 169 yards and four touchdowns against Wadena-Deer Creek.
Alex Jansson, Staples-Motley, rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 57 yards and a score against W-DC.
Matt Michaelson, Pequot Lakes, rushed for 256 yards and a touchdown against Perham.
Cole Engen, Pequot Lakes, rushed for 98 yards and two scores and threw for 54 yards against Perham.
Soccer: Dan Kornbaum, Little Falls, finished with 14 saves in a shutout win over Sartell.
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.