Fairmont Teamwork Wins Class A Girl's Title

Fairmont team and coaches with the Class A trophy.

Coaches will often tell their teams that every person counts in cross country. Last Saturday the Fairmont girl's team found out that wasn't just a pep talk.  Fairmont won the Class A team title by two points over runner-up Perham to win the school's first girl's team title.  Coach Bob Bonk credited the win to not only the top five finishers for the team--Sara Krumholz, Jenna Pavich, Iliana Ramon, Laura Thompson, and Molly Hawkins--but rather a "full team effort."

Not only on the day but going back to dedication and diligence in summer training, strong performances throughout the season with all the team members contributing and executing the race plans.  About halfway through the State meet 5K Perham had the upper hand, but during the "middle mile," said Hawkins,  Fairmont began the push toward the finish.  They started making up ground on the Yellowjackets.  Hawkins and the team's other senior Jenna Pavich kept the team's tight pack together.

 Pavich was in the middle of the team's top finisher Sarah Krumholz, a sophmore whose mother had been the first Fairmont girl to earn All State honors, and Iliana Ramon, a junior whose family had moved to Texas for her sophmore year but moved back during the summer.  That trio finished within seven second of one another. The top five finished within 38.1 seconds with Hawkins in 30th to seal the win.

Since this was their last year, Bonk said, the two seniors seemed extra motivated to finish their cross country careers at the school on a high note.  They led by example and pushed and pulled the others throughout the season. The objective in each race they ran this season was "how many people with different uniforms you could pass," said  Bonk.  "It was all about the team."

It was "a fairly young squad" which was helped by the senior leadership.  Another element that contributed to their success this season was that "we just didn't have anybody sick or injured," said Bonk.  "It was an ideal year of effort and fun," that finished with the State title.  There won't be post season meets because eight or nine of the girls go straight from cross country to a Musical competition on Thursday through Saturday.

The kids at Fairmont have a wide selection of other sports and extra curricular activities, Bonk said.  The cross country team gets a lot of support from the school and the people in the town, he added.  Now they have a team championship trophy to add to their collection.