Class B schools hold cross country regionals

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Class “B” runners across South Dakota took to area golf courses to compete in five separate regional cross country meets.
The top three schools in each team race automatically qualify for the Oct. 21 State Meet in Rapid City, as do the top 20 finishers in both the boys’ and girls’ races in each meet.

JVC edged for 1B boys title

WEBSTER — The James Valley Christian Vikings, two-time defending boys’ Class “B” State Champion will be back to defend once again, after finishing as runners-up to the Warner Monarchs in the Region 1B cross country meet.
By a single point.
Warner finished with a team total of 16 points, while the Vikings were a point back in 17th. Great Plains Lutheran snared the final automatic state meet qualifying spot with its third-place finish.
Michael Wirth of Warner was the top finisher in the boys’ 5K, in a time of 17:27.21, edging teammate Cody Larsen by five seconds.
JVC was led by Colton Schweigert’s 4th place finish, while teammate Darrian Hood was in fifth. Braden Held finished eighth and Daniel Ayoroa was 13th.
Other Heartland-area state qualifiers included Schuyler McElhone of Clark-Willow Lake in 12th.

Local runners and their places are Charlie Spieker of C-WL in 21st; Hitchcock-Tulare’s Logan Gilbert finished 23rd; Zach Mulder of C-WL finished 35th; and Mason McElhone of C-WL finished in 40th.
JVC’s girls’ team didn’t qualify as a team - the Lady Vikings finished 4th in the team race behind Deubrook Area, Northwestern and Dakota Hills - but as all four JVC runners finished in the top-20, all will go to the state meet.
Josie Olsen of Deubook Area took the top spot, ahead of Victoria Zirbel of Dakota Hills. JVC’s Madelynn Brantner was third and teammates AbbyKate Hamilton, Avery Schumaker and Abby Hasart were 12th, 18th and 20th, respectively.
Other local runners included Samantha Schuelke of Clark-Willow Lake at 28th and Ally Binger of Hitchcock-Tulare, who was 30th.

Ipswich sweeps
4B titles

GETTYSBURG — The Ipswich Tigers swept the boys’ and the girls’ team titles Wednesday, at the Region 4B cross country meets.
Sully Buttes and Potter County were second and third, respectively, in the girls’ team race, while Timber Lake and Lyman took the places in the boys’ race. The top three teams and top 20 runners qualify for the Class “B” State Cross Country Meet, set for Oct. 21 in Rapid City.
Aleah Steger took medalist honors for Ipswich in the girls’ race, completing the 5K course in 19:46.12, approximately 30 seconds ahead of teammate Tessa Kilber.
Heartland-area finishers who qualified for the state meet included Oakley Jandreay of Highmore-Harrold in 14th, Wolsey-Wessington’s Shiara Noyes in 15th and Josie Peskey of Wolsey-Wessington, in 20th.
Other local finishers included Hannah Terkildsen of Sanborn Central (22nd), Trinity Boschee of Sanborn Central-Woonsocket in 28th and Sunshine Bible Academy’s Renee Seaman in 29th.
Sam Rhaecine of Wakpala took the tape in the boys’ race, in a time of 17:08.03, 20 seconds ahead of Sunshine Bible’s Christopher Hass. Other local state meet qualifiers included Jace Burma of SBA in 10th and AJ Neely, from Wessington Springs, in 16th.
Other finishers included SC-W’s Austin Schmit in 21st, Gianni Clemente of Wolsey-Wessington in 30th, Isaac Kolousek of Wessington Springs in 40th, Wolsey-Wessington’s Zach Luce in 41st and SC-W runner Braxton Gentles in 43rd.
No team points were kept in the JV races. Local runners finishing in the girls race were Jordy Cutshaw, WW, 10th; Makenna Lonas, WW, 11th, Abby Nickels, WW, 13th; Bella Fry, SC-W, 14th and Hannah VanHeuvelen of SBA, in 16th.
The boys’ race saw Sam Pedersen of SBA in 16th, SC-W runner Gabe Friedel in 19th and Kaleb Cleveland of WW in 21st.

Photo:

Members of the James Valley Christian boys cross country team display their Region 1B runner-up hardware.

Courtesy photo