Vermillion’s Lavin, Gayville-Volin’s Nelson Claim Titles

Gayville-Volin’s Laura Nelson built on last season’s fifth place finish to claim the Class B girls’ individual title with a clocking of 15:06 over the 4000 meter course, 33 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Genevieve Clark. Clark, last year’s individual champion, made it a 1-2 finish for the Raiders, replicating what Yankton’s Savannah Woods and Annie Kruse did last year for the Gazelles.

“With Laura and Genevieve, their hearts are so big and you can’t measure heart but you can see it in them,” Raiders coach Larry Buffington said. “They are an amazing pair to go 1-2 at state. The Yankton girls did it last year and now the other Yankton country girls did it this year.”

Nelson and Clark battled early with Ipswich standout freshmen Macy Heinz and Taylor Loken before pulling away during the second half of the race.

“I think Laura really went out and maybe broke the Ipswich girls a little bit and Genevieve was there to take advantage of that,” Buffington added.

Nelson, a freshman, said they she and Clark knew they would have to go out hard and could hopefully get some separation between them an the defending team champion Ipswich girls.

“Our game plan was to just run our best and see what happened,” Nelson said. “We knew we’d have to have a good kick at the end to beat the ipswich girls and we just ran our race and things worked out great.”

Ipswich was able to place three runners in the top six spots and four in the top 11 to defend their team title over Gayville-Volin by a margin of 14-33.

For the Raiders, freshman Megan Hirsch rounded out the team scoring with a 42nd place finish.

“Megan really stepped up,” Buffington added. “In Class B you are only as good as your third runner and that’s a lot of pressure – I liken it to going to the free throw line with two seconds left and the score is tied and the pressure is really on you – there that pressure is on you at that moment but here that pressure is all year – so I really want to give kudos to Megan for stepping up and doing that.”

Also for the Raiders, eighth grader Elianna Clark placed 104th while junior Kelia Barta was 106th.

Burke-South Central finished 5th in the team race behind the strength of a 24th overall placing by eighth-grader Lexie Fernau.

Freeman sophomore Rebecca Eberts also earned all-state honors (top 25 individuals) with a 10th place effort, ending a tense week-long buildup on a high note.

“I was really nervous this whole week because the times people have been running have been getting so much faster and mine have been consistent so I didn’t know how I would do today,” Eberts said. “When we first started I felt good but we we started the second lap (of the two-lap course) I started getting really tired. Luckily I still had a little left at the end and kicked it in.”

Also earning all-state honors was Platte-Geddes sophomore Reganne Engebretson (15th) while Burke-South Central’s Shailhyn Schweigert, Ryahna Schweigert and Sierra Votaw placed 30th, 31st and 32nd to just miss the top 25.

Other local competitors included Viborg-Hurley’s Jacia Christiansen (33rd), Burke-South Central’s Allison Sebern (41st), Menno’s Lindsey Grassmid (47th), Scotland’s Kchandra Furney (54th), Freeman Academy’s Clara Koerner (69th), Viborg-Hurley’s Kirsten Paetow (72nd), Freeman’s Hannah Eberts (77th), Viborg-Hurley’s Jacque Verdoorn (83rd), Angie Lee (87th), and Kirsten Stevens (102nd), Platte-Geddes’s Delaney Millar (93rd), Dakota Christian’s Shayla Vander Pol (110th) and Ahna Vander Pol (111th), and Scotland’s Stephanie Kotalik (113th).

On the boy’s side, Jase Kraft dominated the race as the Wessington Springs standout finished the 5000 meter course in 16:55.

Elkton-Lake Benton snapped Parker’s three-year team winning streak by placing two runners in the top six to edge Dell Rapids St. Mary’s in the team race, 25-38. The Pheasants ended up fourth with 52 points while Freeman Academy placed sixth with a score of 59.

Viborg-Hurley placed 15th in the team race with 131 points.

For Parker, Michael and Ryan Olson placed 10th and 16th respectively while teammates Tristen Erickson (47th), Grant Plucker (100th) and Eli Maska (108th) rounded out the Pheasants placings.

Freeman Academy was led by Ryan Haggerty (11th), Cole Hofer (27th), Dane Allison (41st), Teagan Schroeder (84th), and Brennan Haggerty (90th).

For Viborg-Hurley, Layne Meyers placed 34th, Logan Hansen was 70th, Logan Slcack 87th, Quinn Doorn 104th and Nicholas Hora 107th.

Other local runners included Avon’s Brant Blaha (43rd), Scotland’s Damien Fuerst (44th),  Centerville’s Nick Wixon (71st), Freeman’s Grant Preheim (88th), and Platte-Geddes’s Derek Wynia (83rd) and Josiah Brink (103rd).

Class A

After a runner-up finish last year as a seventh grader, Vermillion’s Madisen Lavin knew what extra work would be required to climb up one spot higher and the eighth grader’s extra efforts paid off as Lavin edged out Lead-Deadwood’s Mattie Shirley Fairbair by two seconds for the Class A individual crown.

Lavin sprinted out to the early lead and never faltered through the 4000 meter race, even though the victory was not a sure thing until she out-kicked Fairbair over the final 400 meters through a tunnel of cheering spectators to stop the clock at 14:45.

“I just wanted to go out strong and stay up front and be able to bring it all the way back (to the finish),”  Lavin said. “Last year getting second as a seventh grader was a great experience – I was happy with it – but I still wanted more. I decided to keep training and to push myself harder, to the limit.”

The last minute course change from the relatively flat Elks Golf Course to hillier Robbinsdale Park due to the early October blizzard might have worked in Lavin’s favor as well.

“This was the perfect weather for me and this course is a fit for someone who likes hills and I like hills,” Lavin added. “I think that might have helped me just a little bit. People said (the original course) was flat but I knew hills help and trained hills all year long to push myself.”

Garretson claimed the team title with Custer placing runner-up as early favorite Madison struggled to a third place finish.

Ethan-Parkston and Beresford finished fifth and sixth in the team race while Dakota Valley ended up ninth.

Taya Heisinger led Ethan-Parkston with an 18th place finish while teammate Lexy Leischner just missed all-state honors with a 28th place effort. Other Ethan-Parkston runners included Jessica Enderes (34th), Patience Nesheim (42nd), Hannah Wegehaupt (70th), and Katie Murtha (94th).

Ashlynn Atwood led the Watchdogs to their sixth place team finish with an 11th place individual effort while Cait Savey (28), Hannah Ebert (65th) and Caitlyn Worth (80th) rounded out the Beresford scoring. Also competing for the Watchdogs were Lexy Johnson (83rd) and Shelby Bickett (93rd).

Dakota Valley was paced by Marisa Schulz (10th) and Claire Johnson (37th) while the Panthers also had Carlie Long (52nd), Olivia Ohm (112th), Alex Peters (113th), and Jenna Kittler (119th) competing.

Bon Homme’s Maddison Hajek placed 21st to earn all-state honors while Elk-Point Jefferson’s Josie Heeren (37th) and Wagner’s Margaret  Barnett (72nd) and Sadie Eitemiller (73rd) also ran in the event.

In Class A boys’ action, Custer’s Logan Burns took the individual title with Todd County barely edging out Flandreau for the team award, 75-76. Beresford’s boys placed sixth with 110 points while Dakota Valley came home 14th with 212 team points.

For the Watchdogs, Peter Auch led the way, placing 17th. Mike Erlandson (29th), Riley Schaap (31st), and Nick O’Connell (76th) rounded out the four scorers while Cole Homandberg (82nd) and Jake Limmer (91st) were Beresford’s pushers.

Dakota Valley ran Graham Bacon (26th), Charlie Long (66th), Cole Peterson (85th), Jon Green (116th), Chris Okine (118th) and Alex Fernando (126th).

Hunter Paulsen of Elk Point-Jefferson earned all-state honors with an eighth place finish while Ethan-Parkston’s Nick Zolnowsky was also an all-state finisher, placing 24th.

Other local runners included Wagner’s Nick Dion (39th), Trajan Holiday (100th) and Ashton Zephier (121st) and Bon Homme’s Kyle Klinnert (71st) and Nathaniel Klinnert (93rd).