HURON | The runners come and go, but winning never gets old for the Rapid City Stevens cross country team.
The Raiders made good use of their overall depth to repeat as Class AA state girls cross country champions on an unseasonably warm fall afternoon at Broadland Creek Golf Course.
“It’s really exciting. We’re so happy to get this again. We’re very thankful for it,” said junior Jamie Schweiss, who led the Raiders with a second-place finish in the girls’ 4,000-meter run.
When teammates encountered difficulties, others stepped up to carry Stevens to its second consecutive and 16th overall championship.
Senior Emily Person ran near the front for the first half of the 4,000-meter run, but slowed with a recurrent knee injury and settled for a gritty 15th place at the finish.
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Schweiss and Kendra Dykstra stepped up behind winner Jasmyne Cooper of Sioux Falls Lincoln.
“That wasn’t something we thought was possible, but a lot of times when you see your teammates struggling and hurting, that’s when other kids step it up and say we’ve got to get this done,” Raider coach Jesse Coy said.
Nobody stepped up bigger than Schweiss on Saturday.
“I was hoping to run with Emily most of the way, but when I saw she was going back, I knew I couldn’t hold back. I knew I had to carry the team through it if she couldn’t,” Schweiss said. “Kendra did awesome. Everybody really stepped up, and that was nice to see."
Felicia Roskam finished 22nd and Mallory Fine 33rd for the Raiders.
“Felicia made the top 25 and Mallory was our fifth girl. That’s where the scoring stops and we needed all of them today,” Coy said. “It was fun. It was a true team win and I’m really happy for those girls."
Sioux Falls Lincoln, Brandon Valley, Yankton and Sioux Falls Washington rounded out the top five in team points.
Other top area finishers included Allison Green of Sturgis (13th), Maria Bunkers of Rapid City Central (26th) and Angela Hovdenes of Spearfish (31st).
In the boys race, Sturgis’ Jacob Simmons didn’t have enough left in the tank to respond to a final kick from Lincoln’s Gabe Peters in an elbow-to-elbow push for the runner-up spot.
Lincoln senior Will Lauer dominated, leaving the field well behind with a 42-second margin of victory over Peters at the finish.
The Patriots stormed to the team title, with Sioux Falls Roosevelt second and Rapid City Stevens third.
Stevens seniors Connor Haaland (sixth) and Mark Poston (seventh) led the Raiders.
Rapid City Central’s Andrew Cottier finished 24th and Spearfish's Joseph Barnes placed 15th.