REGION XC: MCCUNE, PETERS HEADED TO SIOUX FALLS

JEREMY WALTNER – PUBLISHER

Freeman Public was represented at last week’s Region 3B Cross-Country Meet by a group of underclassmen girls with eyes on a big goal — a top three finish in the team standings that would qualify all five runners for the Oct. 23 state meet in Sioux Falls.

The Flyers didn’t quite get it, but they set the stage for what could be a fun run for the program.

Running at Valley View Golf Course amidst windy and chilly conditions on Oct. 13, seventh grader Rylee Peters and freshman Peyton McCune both earned a trip to state with a top-25 showing. Peters finished 14th in 23:11.04 while McCune was 17th in 23:20.80. It was a statement showing for Peters, who ran her first varsity race at the Flyer Invitational just over a month ago, and breakthrough for McCune, who is in her second year running varsity and whose finish last week was a notable improvement over her 28th place last year.

Both spoke bluntly of the tough conditions they had to endure at last week’s meet, as winds gusted to 40 miles per hour and the temperatures felt every bit like a cool fall day.

“The wind killed me,” Peters said, to which McCune responded quickly, “I felt like I was dying.”

They also spoke about how fun it was to run with three other girls — seventh graders Claire Loofbourrow and Cadence Hofer and eighth grader Vaida Ammann.

“It’s a lot more fun being all together because we have a bigger goal,” said Peters.

Said McCune: “It was good because I didn’t know what to expect at the beginning of the season. It’s a lot of fun to have more people running with you.”

And the Flyers nearly cracked their top-three team goal in the process, with Loofbourrow, Ammann and Hofer finishing 23rd, 24th and 35th respectfully. But Freeman’s 48 team points fell 10 short of Platte-Geddes, which had runners finish ninth, 10th and 22nd.

Still, after a rare year without a runner at state, the Flyers will be represented by Peters and McCune on Saturday.

“I’m excited and nervous, but since it’s the last race of the season I’m going to give it all I’ve got,” said Peters.

“Our goal is to beat the two top Platte-Geddes girls, because we were trying to beat them in regions to place third, but we didn’t do that,” said McCune. “Hopefully we can run a better race at state and beat them because we are better than them.”