Julian, Sargent, Weddell - South Dakota Class A cross country preview
Photo: 2013 Class A Boys Race by Kernit Grimshaw
By Rich Winter
With Logan Burns and Eric Yager having graduated, we will crown a new Class A boys champion on Saturday.
Plenty of good runners in the Class A field but I see this race coming down to three serious contenders.
1. Luke Julian of St. Thomas More had the fastest regional qualifying time of 15:51 as he topped Chance Dooley 23 seconds to pick up that region title.
2. Cole Sargent has been ripping people in the south-central part of the state. He's a legitimate track guy who is only a sophomore.
COMPARATIVE SHOPPING
On Sep. 18 at the Chamberlain Invitational, with a really quality field in attendance, Sargent laid the wood to the Todd County and Garretson kids.
Chamberlain results:
1 Sargent, Cole Miller 16:54.00 1
2 Fick, Evan Garretson 17:08.00 2
3 Breitling, Mason Miller 17:19.00 3
4 Powell, Josh Garretson 17:22.00 4
5 Liester, Josh Garretson 17:34.00 5
At that same meet, Todd County senior Tobias Weddell blew up and could not hang anywhere near Sargent.
15 Weddell, Tobias Todd Co 18:18.00 15 - That's 84 seconds back my friends.
At the Rapid City Invite on Sep. 26, Julian, running against a high caliber field finished 9th.
9th - Luke Julian - 17:51
32nd - Tobias Weddell - 19:27
Ok, so Weddell was 96 seconds in back of Julian.
So, why am I including him in the top-3?
Cross country seasons can change on a dime and Weddell went on a winnning streak near the end of the season. At Thursday's Region 4A meet, he surged past Sargent in the final 100 meters, showing everyone he's a threat on any given day.
Region 4A final.
1st - Weddell 16:37 (legit course, very similar to state)
2nd - Cole Sargent - Miller 16:41
Top runners from each Region
Region 1
1 Yost, Rawson 12 Clark/Willow Lake 17:47.49
2 Bauer, Jordan 11 Webster Area 18:22.26 1
3 Noyes, John 12 Redfield/Doland 18:26.77 2
4 Millar, Evin 12 Redfield/Doland 18:30.73 3
Region 2
1 Youngbird, Ethan 11 Flandreau Indian 17:03.98 1
2 Peters, Derick 9 West Central 17:09.58 2
3 Fick, Evan 11 Garretson 17:35.41 3
Region 3
1 Paulsen, Hunter 12 Elk Point-Jefferson 17:12.24 1
2 De Weerd, Caleb 10 SF Christian 17:47.20 2
3 Timmerman, Nathan 12 Lennox 18:00.44 3
4 Atwood, Alec 8 Beresford 18:01.43 4
Region 4:
1 Weddell, Tobias 12 Todd County 16:37.00 1
2 Sargent, Cole 10 Miller 16:41.00 2
3 Whirlwind Soldier, Danie 12 Todd County 17:23.00 3
Region 5:
1 Julian, Luke 10 St. Thomas More 15:51.55 1
2 Dooley, Chance 11 Custer 16:14.20 2
3 Old Horse, Tristian 10 Hot Springs 16:39.01 3
4 Fast Wolf, Jack 11 Red Cloud 16:59.86 4
Throw in Ethan Young Bird of Flandreau Indian and that is where the champion should come from.
Team race:
Here are your final Class A rankings going into the Region meets:
No. 1 - West Central
No. 2 - SF Christian
No. 3 - Garretson
No. 4 - Miller
No. 5 - Lennox
I have no problem with those rankings, and the champion should come from that group. Keep an eye on Todd County, the defending Class A champs ran very well at the Region 4 meet and soundly defeated Chamberlain.
Three of their top four from last year's state championship squad are back.
Todd County times and places form the Region meet:
1 Weddell, Tobias 12 Todd County 16:37.00 1
3 Whirlwind Soldier, Danie 12 Todd County 17:23.00 3
5 Hacker, John 10 Todd County 17:31.00 5
6 Aquallo, Donald 9 Todd County 17:44.00 6
7 Sun Bear, Travis 10 Todd County 17:48.00 7
16 Sharpfish, Lee 9 Todd County 18:33.00 16
That's a really solid core with a pusher that is right there and a 6th guy that ran 18:33 and finished 16th at the Region meet.
Good luck all of you Class A athletes. Stay strong, stay healthy and run fast.
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