The defending girls Class AA cross country champion Stevens Raiders opened their season with a strong performance at the Douglas Early Bird Invitational at Prairie Ridge Golf Course in Box Elder on Friday.
The Raider girls placed five runners in the top 10, including individual champion Emily Person, who finished fourth at last year’s state meet.
Person battled through a typically windy Prairie Ridge track to finish the race in a time of 16 minutes, 13.71 seconds. She was followed by teammates Jamie Schweiss in second, Felicia Roskam in eighth, Kendra Dykstra in ninth and Mallory Fine in 10th place.
For that effort, Person has been named the Rapid City Journal Athlete of the Week.
Head coach Jesse Coy’s assessment:
“The first thing that sticks out about her is really her work ethic. She just has an incredible work ethic and has done more training every year. You don’t always see that as kids get older because they just have more and more going on, but she’s come out and done more training every year. Her work ethic is the thing that really stands out to me.
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“As for the race last weekend, it was kind of a unique race. It was really windy early in the morning when they did the varsity races and it was really, really slow through the first mile. But after that, Emily and Jamie Schweiss just took off and Emily ended up running her best-ever time on that course. She really ran a great race.”
What was your mindset going into the season-opener?
“Going into the race I was nervous because it’s the last first race as a senior, if that makes sense. Plus, Douglas is a tough course and it was windy. The first mile, I really paced myself and stuck with the crowd, which was slower than I wanted but you have to be patient. Then after the first downhill I broke away … and finished strong. It was really, really fun. It’s just fun to have that first race together as a team.”
What are your goals personally and team-wise for the year?
“For the team, we have a really strong team and it would be really cool to take another state title. All of the girls are looking really strong and we can do it if we have a good day. Personally, I just want to place higher than I did last year, which was fourth.”
What is the key to achieving those goals?
“I think we need to keep holding each other accountable and doing the little things like eating right, getting enough sleep, going that extra mile. It’s really about staying accountable to each other and knowing that it’s the little things that add up.”
What are your post-high school education and athletic plans?
“I know I’d like to run in college and I’m not sure where because the education aspect is much bigger than the running. But I do know that I really want to run in college and study health sciences.”