Huron boys finish eighth at ESD meet

YANKTON — The Huron boys cross country team finished eight in the final standings, while the girls’ were ninth at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Cross Country Meet on Saturday at Fox Run Golf Course in Yankton.
“No one received all-conference honors today, but we had some amazing performances from some of our athletes,” Huron coach Angie Thomas said.
Aberdeen Central won the boys’ ESD title with 37 points, while Brandon Valley had 49 to edge Harrisburg by two points for the second spot. Yankton was fourth at 117, followed by Pierre at 138, Brookings at 157, Watertown at 202, Huron at 211 and Mitchell at 242.
Aberdeen Central had three of the top five runners in the boys’ varsity race.
Aaron Ryan won the event for the Golden Eagles with a time of 15:42.95, while teammate Josh Mehlhoff was third at 16:42.38 and teammate Zachary Johnson was fifth at 16:52.41.
Also finishing in the top five were Brandon Valley teammates Britton Elkin and Eli Cheever, who were second and fourth, respectively, with times of 16:07.64 and 16:49.28.
Frank Hines turned in a personal-best time of 18:19.13 to lead the Huron boys. He was 34th in the 78-runner field.
Will Radke was just two spots behind Hines with a personal-best time of 18:27.03.

“Frank had a solid performance today,” Thomas said. “Will had an amazing race. He set a new personal record by about a minute and a half. He was only eight seconds behind Frank.”
Carlos Yanes was 46th for Huron at 18:49.93, while Angel Olivo-Porcayo (19:06.98), Gonzalo Quispe-Laura (19:58.24) and Spencer LaFortune (21:54.17) all had personal records.
Aberdeen Central also won the girls’ ESD title with 53 points. Brandon Valley was second with 60 points, while Brookings was third at 64.
Yankton was fourth at 103, followed by Mitchell at 144, Harrisburg at 164, Pierre at 172, Watertown at 183 and Huron at 225.
Ellie Abraham of Brookings won the girls’ varsity race in 18:45.57, while Melanie Jacobs of Aberdeen Central was second at 18:45.88. Rounding out the top five in the 74-runner field were Mia Wentzy of Brandon Valley at 19:04.96, Zoe Douglas of Aberdeen Central at 19:17.79 and Katie Wentzy of Brandon Valley at 19:19.09.
Sami Shoultz led Huron with a time of 20:40.31, which put her 28th.
Braylee Thomas and Tori Buffington surpassed and matched their personal records for the Tigers. Thomas was 40th at 21:09.11 and Buffington was 43rd at 21:15.26.
“Braylee had a great race. She ran a much-needed PR,” Thomas said. “Buffington tied her PR.”
Rounding out the lineup for the Huron girls were Tatum Peterson at 23:09.56 and Gwyn Nickels at 23:25.15.
“Tatum Peterson and Gwyn Nickels both recorded personal records by over three minutes,” Thomas said.
Huron had no runners in the boys’ or girls’ junior varsity races, but did have 12 runners in the middle school races, who all turned in personal records on Saturday.
Cheech Harmon led the Huron middle school boys to a sixth-place finish. He had a time of 10:58.37 to finish 18th, while teammate Brady Feenstra was 21st at 11:00.31.
Will Knippling had a time of 11:14.85 for the Tigers, while TJ Lien ran a 11:24.87 and Ben Ahlers finished at 11:56.01.
Huron was fifth in the middle school girls’ standings and was led by Adison Moore, who had a time of 12:02.28 to finish 11th. Sawyer Hennrich was 21st at 12:33.94, while Cameron Ruth was 25th at 12:40.09. Other runners for the Tigers were Khyannin Eagle Star at 12:44.53, Madison Jurgens at 12:59.71, Hannah Schoenfelder at 13:09.98 and Kayeleigh Bowden at 13:57.18.
The Huron cross country teams will close the regular season with the Roger Loecker Invitational at 4 p.m. Thursday at Broadland Creek Golf Course.