Hasz Twins, Wayzata "Rock It" in Girl's Class AA MSHSL XC Championships

Bethany Hasz(68) and Megan Hasz, the twins
"rock it" Photo by Gene Niemi

As MSHSL Class AA girl's champion Bethany Hasz embraced her mother Nancy after the race, her mother declared: "You rocked it!"  Bethany and twin sister Megan were rockin' it as they pulled away from the rest of the field early on the 4K course to finish one, two in 13:53.1 and 14:13.9, respectively. In the individual race they were just as dominant as Wayzata was in the team event.

Undefeated and consistently ranked near the top of all the national polls, Wayzata's girls have perfected pack running.  In what coach, Masters champion, and Minnesota running historian Rick Kleyman observed at this year's Section 6AA Championships where Wayzata won with a near perfect score of 18 points: "That was the greatest performance by a Minnesota team that I've ever seen."  Meet officials at the MSHSL Championships echoed that praise, one shook his head in disbelief while saying: "I've never seen anything like that."

He was referring to the swath of blue, yellow and white that looked like a tricolor train rolling over the green pasture of the St. Olaf course.  "This is a team that comes along once in a lifetime," said their coach Dave Emmans.  Even though the team's top runner, Anna French, had an off day the Wayzata team packed four runners in the top ten of the team scorers and all seven in the top 12.  They won by nearly 100 points, scoring 37 to East Ridge's 134.

The pack running has been perfected over time, the Wayzata girls say.  They take care of one another, one calling herself "the den mother" while she wraps her arm around a teammate.  Emmans has marveled at how they have jelled into a force to be reckoned with.  He doesn't push achievement that just comes naturally to the group, who, above all heed their coaches recommendation that they have fun.

Nancy Hasz sees joy in her twins as well.  They run all through the winter, she says, they never miss a day.  While some of the other teammates may shift from cross country running to cross country skiing, her daughters would rather run, she says, and they actually enjoy it during the winter.

"They push each other," she said.  "They work hard." She also gave credit to third place finisher, Bemidji's Jenna Truedson.  Noting that the Class AA 2013 MSHSL 1600 track champion also challenged the twins, forcing them to go faster to compete with her.

Girls AA results are HERE.