ALCESTER — West Central swept team honors at the Alcester-Hudson Invitational cross country meet, held Monday at the Alcester Golf Course.
In the boys’ division, West Central scored 20 points to edge out Sioux Falls Christian (21) and Parker (25).
Dakota Valley’s Graham Bacon finished the 5,000-meter course in 17:39.66, just over three seconds ahead of Elk Point-Jefferson’s Hunter Paulsen.
West Central had an easier time in the girls’ race, 14-28 over Dakota Valley. Sioux Falls Christian (29), Canton (39) and Elk Point-Jefferson (43) rounded out the top five.
Vermillion’s Madisen Lavin finished the 4,000-meter course in 15:59.54, well ahead of West Central’s McKayla Wieczorek (16:23.27). EPJ’s Josie Hereen was third in 16:28.86.
Bon Homme Inv.
TYNDALL — The Ethan-Parkston girls and North Central boys earned top honors at the Bon Homme Invitational cross country meet, held Monday at Bon Homme Country Club.
Ethan-Parkston finished with 18 points on the girls’ side, nearly half the score put up by Burke-South Central (35). Bon Homme (38), Hartington, Neb. (47) and Scotland (62) rounded out the top five.
Gayville-Volin’s Laura Nelson ran away with the girls’ title, clocking a 15:18 over the 4,000-meter course. Bon Homme’s Maddison Hajek was a distant second at 16:04. Ethan-Parkston’s Taya Heisinger and Platte-Geddes’ Reganne Engebretson, each clocking a 16:57, finished third and fourth.
North Central, a Nebraska co-op of Rock County and Keya Paha, posted a score of 25 points to edge Wagner (29). Hartington (35), Bon Homme (40), Burke-South Central (41) and Ethan-Parkston (42) were also in the hunt.
Wagner’s Nick Dion finished the 5,000-meter race in 18 minutes flat, edging Hartington’s Noah Noecker by four seconds. North Central’s Phillip Lewis (18:27) and Colin Erickson (18:30) finished third and fourth.
Norfolk Inv.
NORFOLK, Neb. — The Yankton Gazelles went 1-2 and put four runners in the top 10 on the way to a team victory in the Norfolk Invitational cross country meet, held Friday at Skyview Lake Park in Norfolk, Neb.
Yankton’s Annie Kruse ran away from the field on the 5,000-meter course, clocking an 18:50 to beat out teammate Savannah Woods (20:02).
“Annie Kruse proved she is one of the best runners in the Midwest by beating a quality field as badly as she did,” Yankton head coach Dave Dannenbring said of the race. “She is very talented and a very smart runner who knows how to be in control of the race from the very start.”
Madison McClure (20:21) finished sixth and Lauren Graves (21:01) placed tenth as the Gazelles beat out Papillion-LaVista South 38-47 in the team rankings. Also for YHS, Whitlee Larson (21:35) placed 19th and Ashtyn Haak (23:28) finished 54th.
“We had a great week and it was a huge day for our girls to beat Papillion-LaVista South and Millard West,” Dannenbring said. “Those two teams have dominated the race the last three years, so for us to beat them is a big step in the right direction for us to be able to beat Rapid City Stevens and Central come state meet time.”
Brice Cowman finished the boys’ 5,000-meter race in 16:20, trailing only Millard West’s Seth Hirsch (15:52) and Austin Post (15:57). The Bucks finished sixth, with Papillion-LaVista South beating out Millard West 40-50 for the team title.
“Our boys had a good showing, finishing sixth among such a good field of teams,” Dannenbring said. “If you compare Brice’s time to the times of the past 33 years of boys’ winners, Brice wins 28 of those 33 times. That’s pretty impressive when you start listing some of the Buck greats, and Brice beats almost all of them.
Also for the Bucks, Justin Grode (17:44) finished 21st, Andrew Peitz (18:35) 42nd, Paul Fanta (19:01) 46th and Kyle Bergeson (19:12) 49th.
Yankton hosts its annual invitational on Thursday at the HSC grounds. Start time is 4:15 p.m.
Yankton’s JV girls finished third, led by Tessa Folkers’ third place finish in 21:57. The Yankton JV boys placed fourth, led by Brody McClure’s 19th place finish in 19:10.
Nathan Zimmerman’s runner-up finish and Riley Andrus’ seventh place finish led the Yankton Middle School boys and girls.
Vermillion Inv.
VERMILLION — South Sioux City swept team honors at the Vermillion Invitational on Friday at the Don Baker USD Cross Country Course.
SSC beat out Vermillion 14-23 for the girls’ title. Vermillion’s Madisen Lavin won in 16:18.35, nearly 40 seconds ahead of South Sioux’s Haley Fritza (16:57.84).
The Cardinals took four of the top five spots to win the boys’ title, led by Ferhan Barento’s 18:14.03. Vermillion was led by Justin Sorensen, who finished sixth in 20:02.44.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.