Here are some updates from the last meet along with information on the next couple of races to help with your planning.
On Friday we competed at the Rapid City Invite and- as September meets at Hart Ranch can be- the race was hot and dusty. Fortunately, we have some incredibly tough kids and we competed really well despite the conditions and nasty little illness traveling around the team.
The boys varsity team finished 2nd behind Sheridan, a Wyoming title contender, and remained unbeaten among South Dakota teams. Miles Brekhus had his best race of the season, finishing in 5th and closing the gap on week-by-week on SD's #1 Cross Country runner, Mikah Peters (Brandon Valley).
Behind Miles was again a tightly bunched pack, which has been the key to the boys' success this season. Torin Jackson and Aaron Letner finished one after another in 17:22 and 17:24, mixing it up with guys that will be placing in the teens at state. Evan Perrigo and Jeriah Alexander closed out the scoring 5 not far behind. Isaiah Geffre, Tate Van Beek (who was battling illness) and Josh Uhre rounded out the varsity squad.
The 1-5 split for the boys was just over 1 minute, but we had just a 23 second split from our #2 through #5 runner. This is exceptional team running.
When we say "team running" that means using your teammates to pull you along to faster times that you wouldn't normally have run or being the teammate that pulls everyone else along. This applies to practice and meets. Your job is to make your teammates better.
The boys JV squad had an outstanding day, finishing just outside of Sheridan again. Art Bauer, Sheridan's coach, always has great programs and I have a great deal of respect for them.
Jack Carpenter knocked this race out of the park, finishing under 18 minutes to win the race in a personal record time. Jack gave literally every ounce of his effort in this race and it paid off. Breakthrough races require an atypical level of effort; so much so that you might even feel like dropping out. Even the pro's feel this way.
Just behind Jack in 2nd place was John Achter, who had a strong race as he rounds back into form.
Dominic Wurdeman, Jaxon Hanson and Josh Piper closed out the scoring in an exciting race vs Sheridan. Packed just 8 seconds behind the scoring five were four runners who will be battling for Varsity spots in the next couple of years: Oden Kleinschmidt, Noah Hansen, Atticus Robinson and Brady Peck. This type of depth is what makes our team great.
The Girls' Varsity squad was short-handed due to the sickness, but saw teammates collectively step up, highlighted by the top four runners finishing within just 33 seconds. Whitli Adams (25th), Brinna Sheldon (27th) and Kadance Holso (31st) finished within 12 seconds of one another and were followed by Vi Sietsema (36th) who ran the best race of her career, just 23 seconds behind our leading trio. It was great to see the top three girls pushing one another throughout the race. Emerson Buchholz was the 5th runner for her first time and along with Maddie Carcamo, rounded out the varsity girl's squad.
We're excited to see what the girls can do at full health next weekend in Cheyenne as the pack is coming together and moving up! We're going to train pretty hard for the next ten days in preparation for Cheyenne to build fitness along with confidence in ourselves and our teammates. The girls have been "pounding the stone" and we can foresee some breakthrough performances coming soon.
The JV Girls finished 2nd behind a tough Sheridan team. Ashlynn Wellman came from behind to win the race, posting her best mark of the season. Kayla Harris continued her improvement, finishing a career-high 5th place. Kayla was followed by Olivia Boerger and Jocee Krebs in 12th and13th. Abigail Eisenbraun was our final scorer, finishing 36th.
Pound the Stone
Lakota Nation Invitational
For the third year, we have been invited to participate in the Lakota Nation Invitational, or "LNI", Cross Country meet at Hart Ranch. The Lakota Nation Cross Country meet is part of the larger Lakota Nation Invitational that includes most other sports along with cultural competitions like archery and hand games.
20-ish years ago, the LNI Cross Country meet was one of the first Cross Country meets I ever coached when I was an assistant at Todd County HS. Our girls team won the meet and I got one of the coveted "LNI Jackets" given to event winners in each sport or activity. Unfortunately, like many items that I don't want to lose, I lost it.
Nonetheless, it's an honor to be invited again. I will have many old friends that will be at the meet and the competition will be perfect for our crew. Hopefully it's not as hot this time around.
We will take our "C-Team" to the LNI meet and run in the Varsity and JV divisions. Since this is a meet with smaller schools, they score 4 with 2 "pushers". Pushers don't count in team scoring, but can displace other team's scorers, so they are important.
Meet Information (detailed information will come later)
Rosters (Yellow= Varsity @ LNI / White= JV @ LNI)
Cheyenne (next week)
For planning, here's the crew that will go to Cheyenne for the Leroy Sprague meet next Friday. We can run 7 Varsity and 7 JV; these are based on average place throughout the season.
We will leave Thursday @ 11:30, run the course, have dinner, sleep and then return after the meet on Friday. Quick trip to put the finishing touches on our racing for the state meet crew and provide valuable experience for "next year's varsity".
Best of the West
We will have our senior day at the Best of the West meet on October 17th. The meet typically starts around 1 PM; I'll have accurate information ASAP.
Coach Coy
Comments