Aberdeen Central teams enter season with high hopes

The Aberdeen Central boys’ cross-country team hopes to be short on memory and long on potential.

After an encouraging start to the 2013 season, the Golden Eagles, who had hopes of a top-three or -four finish at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Championships, finished sixth at the conference meet.

Head coach Greg Murley hopes this year’s effort is more reflective of his team’s ability.

“We didn’t have a good day at ESD last year and we knew we didn’t have a good day,” Murley said. “Patrick (Woods) and Tanner (Peltier) did, but beyond that, we kind of fizzled a bit.”

With just two seniors returning from that 2013 team, Murley thinks he has the mix of talent on his team to do just that.

“We’re extremely, uber, extremely young,” Murley said. “We have two seniors, Patrick Woods and Tanner Peltier. Obviously, those are two pretty good seniors.”

Both Peltier and Woods earned all-conference honors at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Championships last season and Peltier went on to earn state-placer status at the Class AA state meet.

The duo is joined by Alex Tiede, who returns after missing much of last season with a broken foot.

“He ran in the Roncalli meet and ran about a 17:30,” Murley said. “His times were really just starting to drop and then he broke his foot. So his season was cut short, but we’re excited to have him back.”

While the trio of Peltier, Woods and Tiede will form the nucleus of the squad, competition for the remaining varsity spots could be heated. Of the nearly 60 runners out for the program, Murley said, the large majority are sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, and a few of those could be contending for spots on the state team at the end of the season.

“In order to be competitive, we need to have guys in the sub-17:30s,” Murley said. “Currently we have about three and we think we have about three or four more that could get there. And that’s going to be the key. Do we have guys that are willing to put in the work here during the season and put themselves in that position to compete in October?”

The large number of runners out for the sport this year is an encouraging sign for Murley, who said the program is growing.

“Just four years ago, this program only had 22 kids in it, so we’re making steps,” he said. “The program’s getting stronger.”

Murley pointed out Brandon Valley as a top contender in this year’s ESD race, while Sioux Falls Lincoln should be a contender for the state title. 

Like the boys’ squad, numbers are also no issue for the girls’ team, though head coach Bill Martens returns a bit more experience from a 2013 team that finished fifth at the ESD meet. Of the nearly 60 runners, Martens has six seniors to provide internal leadership for his team.

“I really like our senior class,” he said. “We have outstanding senior leaders on our team.”

Kaylee Kappes, Madisyn Waage and Lexi Weisbeck bring state meet experience in both cross-country and track and field to the table. Martens hopes to blend that experience with some youth to create a dynamic 2014 squad.

“We have some runners that gained valuable experience last year,” he said. “We ran three seventh-graders at the state meet last year. Those three, now eighth-graders, have been running very well for us. We’ll be looking for contributions from them.”

Still, he added, he won’t know exactly what kind of team he really has until the first day of competition.

“We’re really looking forward to that first meet,” Martens said. “We’ll kind of see where we’re at. Pierre and Rapid City Central will be there and they’re two of the better teams in the state and they return a lot of talent. So right from the get-go, we’re going to see where we’re at and see how we stack up with some of the better runners in the state.”

In addition to Pierre, Martens pointed out Brandon Valley, Harrisburg and Yankton as some of the top teams on the ESD level. Rapid City Stevens returns all but one member of its state championship team from last season and figures to be a contender for another state title.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty balanced conference,” Martens said. “We just need to take care of ourselves. It’ll be interesting. It’ll be fun.”

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Schedule

AUGUST — 29, Pierre Invitational.

SEPTEMBER — 4, Brandon Valley Invitational; 12, Al Sahli-Bob Salmi Invitational; 20, Clyde Colton Invitational; 25, Russ Strande Invitational; 26, Rapid City invitational.

OCTOBER — 2, Watertown invitational; 11, ESD Championships (Huron); 16, Five Star Invitational (Huron); 25, Class AA State Championships (Huron).