WEBSTER – While the conditions were drastically different, the results were much the same.

Like last week’s Lake Region Conference cross country meet, a pair of Northwestern runners ran away from the field during Region 1B action Wednesday afternoon in Webster and the team races were tight. However, this time the Frederick boys found a way to edge Northwestern for the team championship making it a sweep as the Titans also claimed the girls’ team crown.

Northwestern’s Lincoln Woodring and Ella Boekelheide once again won individual races, albeit in vastly different elements from the calm of the conference meet. Runners had to deal with strong wind and cooler temperatures.

“It takes a lot of mental toughness to run in this,” Woodring said, “but it’s definitely a challenge.”

Unlike some runners who plotted strategy on how to deal with the wind, Woodring got out quickly and threw caution to the wind on the way to the victory.

“I don’t think I use windbreaks too often. It’s just kind of how I’ve always ran,” Woodring said. “I kind of just prefer to do my own thing.”

Boekelheide said she thought about the impact of the wind before she started the girls’ race.

“I was debating on going out a little slower so I had a wind block,” Boekelheide said, “and I kind of went out a little slower than usual just so the first 400 I wasn’t getting slammed by the wind and I think that paid off.”

It didn’t take long for the defending State B champion to take control. She finished well ahead of the field.

The freshman said she doesn’t think too much about the competition when she’s out front.

“I try to focus on myself, but it is smart to know where your other competitors are,” Boekelheide said, “but when you’re up ahead you just have to focus on yourself and keep pushing.”

Unlike last week’s LRC meet when Northwestern edged Frederick on pusher points to win the boys’ team title, the Titans gained a measure of revenge by clipping Northwestern by five points to capture the team championship at the region.

Frederick runners had a strategy to deal with the windy conditions.

“The goal was go out conservative,” said senior Johnathan Bretsch, “stay out of the wind that first half so we have more energy and we’ll pick them up later.”

Bretsch finished third in the race while teammate Milo Sumption was fourth. The two switched positions throughout the race to serve as windbreaks for each other.

“That was actually kind of the plan” Bretsch said. “Me and him decided we were going to stay together and switch in the wind, so we had a windblocker.”

Even so, battling the wind proved to be a tough proposition.

“The wind is kind of like running up a hill,” Bretsch said. “It’s kind of the same challenge, so you just have to kind of power through it and don’t slow down when you get out of the wind.”

Frederick won a tight girls’ team race, this time taking the title by three points over James Valley Christian.

While Aberdeen Christian did not qualify as a team for next week’s state meet in Huron in the team points, the Knights will still be able to compete as a team because all three of their members placed in the top 20.

Katie Steger was 14th, Rachel Beaner placed 17th and Grace Steger finished 18th.

“It feels really cool,” Katie Steger said of having the trio advance to state. “It would not be the same if we all three weren’t there. We’re like the same person almost. We run that way, too.”

Like most of the runners, the junior was not real fond of the wind.

“I get really mad at the wind,” Steger said. “It’s like someone is trying to push you over, so you really want to push back.”

In the end, the runners made the best of the situation and showed grit and determination.

“It’s all about mental toughness,” said Christian coach Livia Inches of competing in the less than ideal weather. “I had a coach that once said, there’s no bad weather, there’s only soft people. Everyone is running in the same conditions. We train in the wind so that’s nothing new. We’ve trained for hills so that’s nothing new.”

To see complete meet results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/211679/results/all