The Rapid City Stevens girls cross country team had a huge win Friday, topping the three Sioux Falls public schools and Rapid City Central for the team title despite running without standout Emily Person.
The Raiders finished first at the East-West Cross Country Invitational at Robbinsdale Park, closing out the day with an overall team score of 42 as Jamie Schwiess led the way with a second-place finish in a time of 15 minutes, 18.7 seconds, just behind winner Jasmyne Cooper of Sioux Falls Lincoln, who finished in 15:10.8.
Stevens’ Kendra Dykstra finished fourth overall with a time of 15:37.6 and Felicia Roskam finished seventh in 16:01.1.
“We held Emily Person out today because her IT band has been bothering her and Robbinsdale is a tough course,” Stevens head coach Jesse Coy said. “So we thought it was a good idea, and it gave some younger girls a chance to run today. We really had some girls run super.”
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Ava Parris of Rapid City Central finished ninth to lead the Cobblers with a time of 16:04.4.
Rounding out the top five team scores were Sioux Falls Washington with 57, Sioux Falls Lincoln with 68, Sioux Falls Roosevelt with 86 and Rapid City Central with 90.
“I haven’t really had a chance to talk to the girls yet, but we’ll get together at practice tomorrow and I think they’re pretty excited,” Coy said. “It gives you some confidence to go without your No. 1 and beat some really good teams.”
The Stevens boys finished with a team score of 58, behind first-place Lincoln and second-place Roosevelt. Sioux Falls Washington came in fourth with 107, followed by Rapid City Central with 121.
Connor Haaland was the top runner for the Raiders on the day, finishing in fifth place with a time of 16:45.4. Mark Poston also finished in the top 10 for Stevens as he ended the day in eighth with a time of 17:01.7.
Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Will Lauer was the top runner of the day with an individual time of 15:59.5, followed by teammate Nathan Schroeder with an individual time of 16:35. Roosevelt’s Daniel Armstrong rounded out the top three with a time of 16:39.4.
Rapid City Stevens and Rapid City Central will compete at the Rapid City Quad next week, also at Robbinsdale Park.