CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS HEADING WEST
Student-athletes from Freeman Academy/Marion, Freeman Public and Menno will be well-represented when runners assemble at Hart Ranch in Rapid City for the 2024 South Dakota High School Activities Association Cross-Country Championships this Saturday.
The Oct. 26 meeting begins with the Class B girls race at 12 p.m., with the Class B boys set to embark on their own 5,000-meter journey at 1:30 p.m.
Two full teams — the Freeman Public boys and Menno girls — advanced to the state meet by finishing second at the Region 3B meet hosted by Scotland and Dawson Creek Golf Course last Wednesday, Oct. 16.
FREEMAN BOYS
The young Flyers team includes freshman Lane McCune, freshman Braydan Mangel and eighth grader Josh Oleson, who finished fifth, ninth and 15th among the 44 runners competing in last week’s region meet. Freeman’s team also includes seventh graders Collin Randall and Korbin Jensen, who finished 31st and 36th.
MENNO GIRLS
Menno’s girls team was led at last week’s region by sophomore Zoe Schaeffer and senior Ellyana Ulmer, who cracked the top-20 with seventh and eighth place finishes among the 42 runners competing. Senior Nora Robb was 21st, seventh grader Savanah Wielenga was 24th and eighth grader Briley Cross with 31st.
The Region 3B runner-up girls team from Menno includes, from left: Elyanna Ulmer, Zoe Schaeffer, Briley Cross, Savanah Wielenga, Nora Robb and head coach Rachael Massey. PHOTO BY JEREMY WALTNER
OTHER QUALIFIERS
Six others from local schools punched their ticket to state with top-20 finishes in the region, including another young runner from Freeman Public, Olivia Schultz. The eighth grader qualified for her second state meet with a 13th place finish in Scotland last week.
The rest of the local state field includes runners from Freeman Academy/Marion, including one of Class B’s best, Finley McConniel. The senior from Marion finished second only to last year’s state champion — Mitchell Christian sophomore Silas Holdeman — to advance to his sixth state meet.
Hayden Schmidt, a senior from Marion, also had an outstanding region meet for the Bearcats and finished eighth.
And while they didn’t quite crack the top three in team standings, the FA/Marion girls were collectively strong, with junior Estelle Waltner, senior Sieta Wiersema and seventh grader Faith Pekron earning their own trip to Rapid City by placing ninth, 15th and 20th. The Bearcat girls placed fourth as a team.
Freeman Academy/Marion was also represented at last week’s region meet by freshman Kolter Schmidt, freshman AJ Miller and senior Caden Tiezen, who placed 23rd, 28th and 29th in the boys field.
NOTES
Eyes on Saturday will be on the battle between McConniel and Holdeman, who have consistently been the best in Class B all season long. While Holdeman has had the edge over McConniel late, McConniel has the top time in Class B this season — 16:00.07 earned at the Augustana Twilight Meet on Sept. 6. Holdeman is second in the Class B standings with a 16:04.03, also clocked at the Augustana meet.
For McConniel it will be his sixth and final high school cross-country race and marks remarkable growth as a runner. While he was middle-of-the-pack at best his first three state meets, McConniel catapulted to eighth his sophomore season of 2022 and finished fifth a year ago. Will the motivation of his final 5,000 meters be enough to be in front of Holdeman at the end?
Holdeman and the Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are hoping to follow up on last year’s Class B boys runner-up finish to Philip with a state title of their own. In addition to Holdeman, Mitchell Christian has runners sitting fifth and 12th in the field, including Holdeman’s younger brother, Sawyer, who is in the eighth grade. But Philip returns a strong core and has runners third, sixth and ninth in the state-meet field. It’s going to be close.
Lane McCune is hoping for a breakout state meet in what has been a breakout season for the Freeman High School freshman. Fifty-fifth at state a year ago, McCune has enjoyed a 2024 season toward or at the front of the pack on a regular basis.
His best time of the year — 17:20.30 — is significantly better than his clocking of 19:00.25 at last year’s state meet and McCune has the 21st fastest time in the Class B field heading into Saturday’s race; that’s one place away from what would be his first state-meet medal.
Like McCune, Olivia Schultz is hoping to climb up the ladder in the Class B ranks on Saturday and should based on her incoming best of 22:47.21; that’s nearly a minute better than last year’s clocking of 23:39.88, which had her 89th at state.
Also keep an eye on the battle between Freeman Academy junior Estelle Waltner and Menno sophomore Zoe Schaeffer, the best runners on their respective girls’ squads. Waltner’s time of 21:11.78 and Schaeffer’s time of 21:16.78 have them 35th and 37th in the Class B girls field.
Last year, Waltner placed 29th at state with a 21:20.58 while Schaeffer was 87th in 23:33.33.
And Saturday’s state meet will be a first for a runner who squeezed into her spot in the field thanks to a somewhat unexpected finish at last week’s region meet. Faith Pekron, a seventh grader from Marion, had the FA/Marion girls team smiling broadly after finishing 20th at Dawson Creek Golf Course, meaning the Bearcats’ trio of young women will be making the trip across South Dakota together with the boys.
The last time the state meet was held in Rapid City was in 2020, when a mantle of snow decorated Hart Ranch in white and created adverse weather conditions for runners. This year, the weather should be decisively better, with highs expected to climb upwards of 70 degrees with a slight breeze.
Watch for results from Saturday’s state meet at freemansd.com later Saturday afternoon.
