Pierre cross-country program celebrates strong offseason

Coaches Keith Christensen and Jim Keyes had plenty of attire to distribute this week, as Jebben Keyes (505 miles), Porter Jones (495), Austin Lentsch (418.5), Rachel Propst (352.5), Morgan Leiferman (320), Ryan Sheldon (318), Sam Ullmann (309.5), Hannah Shaffer (305.5) and Nick Mahowald (303) each surpassed the 300-mile plateau.

The team also featured notable performances that fell just short with Ryan Mikkelson (249.5 miles), Sarah Polak (242.5), Mariah Fuchs (238.5), Seth McKinley (211) and Jack Wollman (211) each getting a substantial amount of running done over the summer months.

The participating runners turn their records in to Jim Keyes after every month. Coach Keyes says that the rewards don’t only come in the form of fitness, as the written goals help the Pierre athletes achieve more.

“It means a lot more when you write your goals down,” Jim Keyes said. “Our team is very goal-oriented, both individually and as a team. You just can’t decide that you’re going to run for a summer, you have to write your mileage down, so you can visually see what you’re running. Whether you’re a middle school kid or a high school kid, the mileage sheets are a good thing because it keeps them accountable for their running.”

The mileage records from years’ past can also help the athletes prepare for the next level of running if their career goes in that direction.

“Those mileage sheets will help the kids,” Jim Keyes said. “A handful of them might run in college, so it’s good for them to be able to look back at the progression they’ve made.”

The program has the aid of two great leaders within it. Jebben Keyes and Propst are already in the midst of accomplished running careers, and they wanted to set a good example for their younger teammates.

“It’s good to show the younger runners that putting in the time really makes a difference,” Propst said. “We need to set an example of what needs to be done to have a good career.”

“We’re not going to be here forever, but we care about the tradition of the program,” Jebben Keyes said. “Showing the younger runners how much hard work helps will help the program in the future.”

The younger competitors of the program have literally taken the examples set by the returning state-placers and ran with them. The junior varsity runners have already cut their times down significantly.

“It’s great for some of these junior varsity kids to take part in this,” Jim Keyes said. “All of those miles that kids like Austin Lentsch did help him improve. He’s better by almost two minutes now.”

Freshman Porter Jones went above and beyond the 300-mile goal with a total of 495 miles in three months, and every mile has been more than worth it.

“Being able to come in with a lot of endurance has helped me a lot,” Jones said. “I’ve been ready to run at the start of the season because of the training.”

Jebben Keyes has taken great pride in his role as the leader of the current crop of Governors, but he’s also got some lofty goals for himself. For the sophomore to become one of the state’s elite, he knew that he had to put in some extra time.

“I had to run quite a few two-a-days to get that much mileage,” Jebben Keyes said. “It helped me that I had a lot of teammates to run with throughout the summer. There really weren’t any days where I didn’t want to run. I want to be the best, and I know that it takes hard work to get there.”

The end result for Jebben Keyes was a total of 555 miles; a tally that Christensen says only fell short of former college stars Scott Munsen and Mark Zeller in terms of productivity among his athletes.

Keyes’ total may not match some from around the state, but he’s also balanced running with his blossoming wrestling career (he was a state runner-up in 2013).

“A kid like (Brookings senior) Addison DeHaven doesn’t do anything but run. Jebben is a wrestler and a runner,” Jim Keyes said. “When you live in Pierre, you want him to be involved in various sports. He could probably be a better runner if it weren’t for wrestling, but we want him to be wrestling.”

Propst had different circumstances than most runners entering summer workouts. The junior wasn’t able to defend her state championships in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs last track season due to injury, and she had to take her foot off of the gas to begin the offseason.

“It was a big deal for me to limit myself,” Propst said. “I was hurt at the beginning of the summer, so I really had to ease into things. That’s really helped me stay healthy. I’ve gradually gotten into it, and I was able to pump in more miles later in the summer.”

All of the runners in the program were encouraged to work out together throughout the summer. Teammates were invited to run every morning at Griffin Park, an occurrence that helped build a team into a family.

“We can’t coach the kids during the summer, so running in the morning is kind of like a basketball team holding an open gym. It builds chemistry,” Jim Keyes said. “When you’re putting time in together, you’re also running as a family. We’ve always stressed that our team is always there for each other, so it helps that they’ve gone to battle together in the offseason.”

The Governors and Lady Govs are both off to fast starts through the beginning of the season, and their offseason work is a big reason why.

“It’s such an edge for the kids to know that they’ve ran their miles, written them down and given them to me,” Jim Keyes said. “The miles they ran over the summer will help us reach our goals this fall.”