HURON Four Huron runners will lace up their shoes for the last time in their high school careers for the Class AA State Cross Country Meet, which will be held today at Hart Ranch in Rapid City.
The Class AA girls race is slated for 1 p.m. MT, while the Class AA boys race will follow at 2:30 p.m. MT.
Running their final race for the Tigers will be Hannah Schoenfelder, who is the lone senior on the girls team, and TJ Lien, Angelo Medina and Alec Pester on the boys team.
Its been a good ride with the seniors, so I hope they go out with a personal record, Huron coach Angie Thomas said.
Lien has led the Huron boys team this season and brings in a season-best time of 17:30.43 into the state meet.
The second fastest runner this season for the Tiger boys is sophomore Teagan Lien, who posted a season-best mark of 17:54.15. James Weir is another sophomore runner, who turned in a time of 18:47.64.
Medina clocked a season-best mark of 19:35.16, while Pester has a best time of 19:41.87.
Huron has a young group making up its girls team for the state meet.
Junior Josie Vlieger inked a season-best time of 21:19.20 for the Tigers and was followed by sophomore Nora Pester at 21:19.82.
Rounding out the lineup for the Huron girls are freshman Lily Swanson (21:41.70); sophomore Lily Meyer (21:56.04) and Schoenfelder (23:09.30).
Its supposed to be nice weather for running, so Im hoping we can turn in some good times, Thomas said. The entire crew participating in state has worked really hard this season, and Im very proud of them.
A new state champion will be crowned in the Class AA boys race, as Jared Lutmer Pierre, who was the medalist last year, graduated.
Mikah Peters of Brandon Valley, who was fourth in 2023, is the highest returning finisher. He is the top-seeded runner heading into this years state meet with a time of 15:06.27. Sioux Falls Lincoln teammates Joseph Levesque and Miles Lechtenberg are seeded second and third, respectively, with season-best times of 15:13.34 and 15:13.76.
Rounding out the top-5 seeds are Cole Reilly of Sioux Falls Washington (15:17.42) and Trevin Lounsbury of Brookings (15:18.33).
Sioux Falls Lincoln is the defending Class AA boys champion.
Senior Libby Castalli of OGorman is the defending Class AA girls champion. She enters this years event as the third seed with a time of 17:18.60.
Holding the top seed for the girls race with a season best time of 17:03.32 is seventh-grader Brianna Reilly of Harrisburg. She is followed by teammate Hannah Genrich, who is an eighth-grader with a qualifying time of 17:13.23.
Rounding out the out the top five heading into the state meet are junior Emery Larson of Pierre (17:51.29) and senior Sarah VanDeBerg of Brandon Valley (18:13.37). Larson used course record times to win the Class B individual title for Chester Area in 2022 and 2023.
Brandon Valley is the defending Class AA girls champion.
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