Riverside Christian's Ella, Emelia Arntson ready for another run together at state

Contributed By Alex Faber Today at 11:02 PM Listen Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? EAST GRAND FORKS — Senior Ella Arntson has run for Riverside Christian since the program's inception six years ago. Ella's younger sister, Emelia, is a freshman. ADVERTISEMENT Emelia doesn't know Riverside Christian cross country without Ella. "It's going to be so weird," Emelia said. "It just will not be the same without her. ... She's such a big leader in our group and an amazing running buddy, too. It's just going to be so weird without her." The sisters, however, will get one more opportunity to compete together. Ella and Emelia both qualified for this Saturday's Minnesota Class A state meet at the Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake, Minn. It's the second consecutive year both Ella and Emelia have qualified for state. Contributed "It's really special to us," Ella said. "We run together, we train together. I get to see her running, and it's just really cool to see her qualify, and be able to qualify with her." Emelia took first place in a nail-biter at the Section 8A championships. She finished in 18:45.3, just 0.5 seconds ahead of Fertile-Beltrami's Kaylee Nelson. "I wasn't expecting it, but that was my ultimate goal," Emelia said. "I had a plan, and that was my plan to win. ... I tried at the meet before that, starting out fast, and that just did not end well for me. So at sections, I tried just saving more energy for the end of the race and not starting off too fast, which I think worked really well." ADVERTISEMENT Ella placed seventh with a time of 19:38.8. Riverside Christian finished third as a team with a score of 111, just short of its goal of second place. "I'm super excited," Ella said. "It's a big accomplishment for sure. We were hoping that the team could qualify, but getting to qualify with my sister is really special. I'm really excited to be back there with her and just have fun." The sisters will make the trip with a few teammates and their mother and head coach, Barbara Arntson. "You hope for it," Barbara said, "you hope that it all pans out and everything, but you just never know. We are just so thankful that they both made it." Contributed Emelia was too young to run when the Rams' cross country program was created six years ago. But since joining the team in middle school, Emelia has become one of the best runners in the section. "It was very hard at first when she came to run with me," Ella said. "It was like I had to be better than her because I'm older than her. But I discovered that she's there to push me and to run with me, so it's been really fun to just work with each other and to make each other better. We still have our little competitive side, but we love each other, and it's really fun to be able to do that together." ADVERTISEMENT As Emelia has continued to develop, she's had the guidance of her mother and older sister. "(Ella) is one of my biggest role models in my life, for sure," Emelia said. "Then growing up, my mom always had us run. And with my mom being the cross country coach since I was in fourth grade, I would go to every practice since fourth grade with her, run with all the girls, and it was so fun running with everyone." Emelia is aiming for a top-10 finish at the meet, while Ella is hoping to run under 19 minutes. Last year, Emelia finished 37th (19:50.1) at state, while Ella finished 59th (20:17.3). "I feel like the hard part is qualifying for state," Ella said. "Then once you go to state, that's just time to have fun and try your best, don't put a bunch of pressure on yourself." Minnesota state cross country meet Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Tags Tags CROSS COUNTRY By Alex Faber Alex Faber is a sports reporter for the Grand Forks Herald. A Michigan transplant, he graduated from Michigan State University in 2024 with a degree in journalism and minors in history and environmental studies. 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