NORTHFIELD, Minn. - This was Cullen Shanrock's second year of cross country.

Before that, the Wabasha-Kellogg High School junior played football.

He then discovered he was a really strong at running the mile in track.

Now, he's discovered, he's a really strong at another thing - cross country.

"I went out for cross country just to train," Shanrock said. "Now, it's my favorite sport."

Saturday, Shanrock took 24th overall at the MSHSL Class 1A state meet. He also earned all-state honors as the top 25 runners at the state meet receive that honor.

The junior finished the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 9.1 seconds.

"It was tough," Shanrock said of the course, the meet, nerves, everything surrounding it. "I was bound and determined to control myself in the first mile and not go out too fast, but I didn't at all."

Shanrock ran a 5:10 first mile. It caught up to him on the next, but he finished strong, despite two hills to climb.

"There's a long hill back there," he said. "It must be almost 400 meters. Oh man.

"And that last hill, I was nervous about it, but there were so many runners around me that seemed to be really hurting, I found it in myself to catch them."

Like Shanrock, Cotter's Eric Mueller felt he went out too fast in his first state meet. He was right around the same time as Shanrock after the first mile, and it, too, caught up to him.

And, again, like Shanrock, Mueller found it within himself to finish strong.

"I kind of thought I'd go out like that, but I didn't think it would be that hard to hold it," said the Cotter junior. "This isn't a flat course. But I was passing guys at the end - got to the top of the hill and told myself I have to go (on last stretch)."

Mueller finished 45th overall (17:26.3).

As a tea, the Ramblers finished 16th out of 16 teams, but it wasn't about a place, but more about the experience and wanting to get back.

Cotter only has one senior on its team - Scott Malotka, who finished in 20:36.4. The expectation now is to get back again.

"I think we're going to come back next year wanting to get back and do a lot better," Mueller said. "I think we can have a really good showing next year."

La Crescent's girls have qualified for the state meet for four consecutive years.

The Lancers placed 12th last year, 15th in 2007 and 13th in 2006. Saturday, La Crescent set a school record with a ninth-place finish (239 points).

But what's even more impressive, it did it without one of its top-two runners as Carlye Guzman had to drop out of the race.

It didn't affect the team. The Lancers packed tight behind freshman Katie Shepardson, who finished 70th (16:36.5).

"Right about the halfway point Carlye said she couldn't run anymore, so I told her to stop,"

La Crescent coach Mark Abraham said. "Her health is more important.

"She's a junior and I told her not to feel too bad. She's pretty distraught over the whole thing, but the most important thing for me was that she understood she didn't let anybody down. She couldn't control it."

Lewiston-Altura's Jayna Speltz qualified for the girls meet, but did not finish.

On the boys side, La Crescent sophomore Eric Veglahn finished 62nd (17:38.1) in his second consecutive state appearance. Plainview-Elgin-Millville won the boys meet by two points (100).