Senechal to close out memorable career for Panthers at state XC meet | News, Sports, Jobs

The Rugby senior has been named all-region six times, all-state five times – with the goal of making it No. 6 in her next race – while helping to lead the Panthers to three state titles in her first three seasons with the team. Senechal’s name has been a common fixture in the rankings as one of the top 10 runners in Class B, alongside names from powerhouse programs from Hillsboro/Central Valley and Bowman County.

Now, Senechal’s career in a Panthers uniform is down to one final race as she is set to compete in the Class B State Meet on Friday, Oct. 24, at Parkhurst Recreation Area in Jamestown, looking to put a bow on what has been a memorable career in the black and orange.

“She’s probably the most successful girl over a career that I’ve ever had,” Rugby coach Bill Jansen said. “This is my 28th year. She’s already finished off the six-time all-region, so now we want to get through that state meet and run well and she’s been all-state five years – all the years she ‘s run cross country. She’s been very consistent and works hard. It’s been a joy to have athletes like that. Competition wise, your teams do well and she’s been a part of very good teams. She’s been part of three of our state championships. Anytime you have kids like that, the other runners can look at and realize that it is possible that we can run at the highest level and compete at the state level is a very positive thing and she has been that. She’s been a rock.”

The Panthers spent the entire season ranked among the top five programs in Class B, bouncing back and forth between No. 3 and No. 4. They enter the state meet at No. 3 behind defending state champion Hillsboro/Central Valley and Bowman County, and in front of Killdeer and Bottineau. Rugby won five meets this season, including their home event – the 31st Annual Booster Club Invitational – with Senechal and teammate Allie Monrroe finishing second and third, respectively. Senechal won a pair of races this season and placed top-five in three others.

Submitted Photo
Rugby freshman Allie Monroe placed fifth at the East Regional Championships earlier this month and is the ninth-ranked runner in the coaches’ poll entering the Class B State Meet on Friday, Oct. 24, in Jamestown. Photo provided by Rugby cross country assistant coach Jennifer Bartsch.

“It’s gone pretty well,” Senechal said. “I’ve been finishing pretty high at all of our meets and then our team has also been very good this year. We’ve been finishing high in our meets, too.”

Senechal said she feels a bit of pressure as the most experienced member of the team, but it hasn’t impacted her performance. She has been Rugby’s top finisher in all but one meet this year.

“The group of people I’m with helps me a lot,” Senechal said. “It’s just a very stress-free environment that I’m in. And all the senior girls, we all talk to each other and help each other out if we need it.”

Rugby’s success this season has been a team effort. While Senechal is the top performer, she’s far from the only member of the squad to make major contributions. Junior Evyn Jacobson, freshman Allie Monroe and eighth-grader Katelyn Shively have been the Panthers’ top-four runners all year. Jacobson had five top-10 finishes this season, placing third at the Carrington Cardinal Meet, the Devils Lake Grahams Island Invitational and the Hatton-Northwood Invitational. Her season-best time of 20:08 came at the Border Battle – one of the biggest meets of the season – where she finished 16th overall in a field of more than 200 runners.

Monroe enters the state meet as the ninth-ranked runner in Class B, cracking the top 10 for the first time following a fifth-place finish at the regional meet, running the race in 19:52. It was her second consecutive race running sub-20 minutes after clocking in at a season-best 19:48 at their home meet.

“Allie’s a freshman and she’s run well all three years,” Jansen said. “I really thought she had a good chance of being all-state last year and she got knocked down at the race at state and that kind of threw her off a bit, but she was running well at the end of the season and she’s gained confidence. She’s a very confident young lady now. Last year she qualified in the two-mile by time, which is kind of a big deal as an eighth grader at track, so I think that bolstered her confidence, so now she’s gone through the cross country season and has gotten stronger and stronger. A lot of that is confidence. You have to believe you can run with the best in the state. You can’t have any doubt about it because you have to get after it early in races to be where you need to be by the end of the race. She’s gained that confidence over the season and she’s running really well right now.”

Shively has served as the fourth leg in the bunch with four top-five finishes and two other top 20s. She finished 19th at regionals, running sub-21 minutes for the first time all season and helped the Panthers to a second-place finish, placing behind Hillsboro/Central Valley by 35 points. H/CV and Rugby went 1-2 at the 2024 regional meet as well, but the gap was larger at 49 points.

“We came into the season knowing we had some good returning runners and had had some good success,” Jansen said. “We were fourth last year at state and had a good amount of kids coming back. There were true expectations of doing well and having a good season and that’s come to fruition. The kids have run well and we’ve picked up some help along the way as you want to as you go through a season. Some kids have stepped up and some new kids who weren’t part of the success last year stepped up and improved.”

Senechal, Monroe, Jacobson and Shively were all named all-region this year. Senechal is among three nominated for Outstanding Senior Athlete along with Grafton’s Joslyn Kalbreener and Lisbon’s Maria Kempel.

H/CV enters the state meet as the favorite and Claire Grinde is both the defending state individual champion and the top-ranked runner in the state. She ended Des Lacs-Burlington’s Brynn Hanson’s run of three straight individual titles last season, finishing 32 seconds faster. Grinde’s teammate – Caroline Anderson – is ranked No. 2.

“Cross country is kind of an open book unless something weird happens,” Jansen said. “We run against each other constantly. It’s not like we play against each other one time during the season. You see everybody unless an injury or a sickness occurs. Hillsboro is very deep. They have seven, eight, nine girls who are quality. Their top three girls were 1-3 in the poll for a while and could finish one, two, three at state. Anytime you have that, it’s really hard to fight that. It’s not like you can devise an offense or a defense to keep them from doing what they do. Bowman County is very consistent. They have five or six girls who are really tough and they can pack it. They stay pretty close together usually, so anytime you have that, you’re very competitive. Both those teams are pretty solid. It would take a monumental race from us and something to happen to them negatively for us to move up from three. I tell the team all the time that hopefully you have your best race of the year and if you get beat, be happy for those that had a better race. That’s all you can do.”

Senechal finished sixth at state last year with a time of 19:47 and seventh in 2023 in 20:31. After six years, Senechal’s high school career is down to its final 19-20 minutes of race time. But she isn’t looking to hang up the running shoes just yet as she does have aspirations to run at the next level. She hasn’t made any concrete decisions on her future just yet.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Senechal said. “I’m excited to go on to college and move on, but it’s also sad because I’m leaving behind all the younger kids I’ve been with for all these years.”

The girls race is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.