The runners of four schools, Braham, Cambridge-Isanti, North Branch and Rush City, couldn't have asked for a better day at the start of the cross country racing season on Aug. 25, 2008 in Milaca.

The weather was surprisingly cool for an August day, in the low 60s and sunny without a hint of winds that could throw a runner off.

Braham

Freshman Austyn Eng was the only female from the Bomber team to compete and finished in 51st place at 18:02.7. Senior Cody Luebeck finished at 21:35.4 in 93rd place, and Jacob Rajkowski finished in 102nd place at 22:22.6 for the boys team.

Braham arrived with an incomplete team and did not qualify for an overall team score in both the girls and the boys divisions.

Cambridge-Isanti

The C-I girls team took 14th place overall out of 17 teams with a total score of 337.

Emily Steel earned the highest spot on the scoreboard for the girls team in 54th place at 18:07.3 followed by teammates Emily Head in 63rd place at 18:25.6; Hannah Knickerbocker in 68th place at 18:45; Kelly Chies in 77th place at 19:03.1; Amber Benson in 96th place at 19:44.02, Amanda Olander in 107th at 20.21.9; and Morgan Smith in 109th at 20:43.6.

The C-I boys team took fourth with a score of 96. Running for the Bluejackets were Joel Allen who finished in seventh place at 17:46.7; Steven Jones in 17th place at 18:22.1; Billy Eifert in 26th place at 18:40.9; Desmond Cariveau in 27th place at 18:43.1; Charlie Abraham in 30th place at 18:49.6; Joe Renier in 35th place at 19:04.2; and Jeff Gotz in 67th place at 20:14.4.

North Branch

The North Branch girls team took fourth overall with a score of 104, missing third by just five points. Running for the Vikings were Briana Berthiaume who finished in 10th place at 16:15.8; Shayna Gray in 21st place at 16:59.5; Alyssa Kroschel in 22nd place at 17:01.1; Miranda Charley in 25th place at 17:05.4; Megan Zimmerman in 26th place at 17:07.3; Dani Privratsky in 29th place at 17:12.2; and Ali Zimmerman in 38th place at 17:36.

The boys team took seventh overall with a total score of 179 points out of 16 complete teams.

Ryan Norman was the first Viking to cross the finish line in 13th place at 18:02.6 followed by teammates Colin Charpentier in 18th place at 18:26; Joe Klun in 51st place at 19:39.7; Tommy Toohey in 58th place at 19:51.9; Boyd Suparat in 60th place at 19:54.9; Erik Fircha in 64th place at 20:12.1; and Zach Jacobsen in 87th place at 21:12.7.

Rush City

The Tigers arrived in Milaca with an incomplete team and did not qualify for a team score. Sophomore Bryanna Koehnle led the Tigers with a 44th-place finish at 17:50.3 followed by Erin Kossan in 67th place at 18:32.3 and Rachel Erickson in 100th place at 19:57.9 out of 119 runners.

For the boys team, Josh Wurdemann took 22nd place at 18:31.7 followed by Blake Bloomquist in 53rd place at 19:41 out of 113 runners.