Boys first, girls third at Custer Invite

Although the Custer High School Wildcats were using the Eldon Knudson Invitational Cross Country Meet at Rocky Knolls Golf Course as a training run, the boys walked away with a first place finish. 
“That wasn’t the primary goal when we ran it. I just wanted them to be on the course, to get a good workout in and to again run solidly as a team and pull each other along,” said head coach Karen Karim. 
Kian Rusch and Peyton Krueger ran stride for stride throughout the race, taking fourth at 18:16.16 and fifth at 18:17.31, respectively. 
“Peyton Krueger is just looking stronger each meet and each week,” said Karim. “I think he stood out in that meet.” 
The pack still gathered with Zachary Cooper in ninth at 18:45.54, Zane Gunnell in 10th at 18:46.01 and Austin Drew in 11th at 18:49.82. 
Then, Ayden Dooley finished 22nd at 20:05.38, Conner Lundy finished 25th at 20:17.59 and Saylor Rice finished 28th at 20:25.21. 
Somehow, early in the race, Dooley lost a shoe and ran the rest of the race with just a sock. He managed to avoid getting stepped on by other athletes, but Dooley did have to race through pine needles, rocks and other such things. 
“He actually ran pretty well considering he only had one shoe on,” said Karim.
In the junior varsity (JV) boys race, Brooks Wheeler placed sixth at 21:29.06, Jared Cooper placed ninth at 21:48.63, Samuel Cochran placed 18th at 23:24.07 and Jaxson Pomarleau placed 26th at 25:29.17.
The varsity girls came in third place at the meet. Some were training through the race, while others ran it a little harder. 
“Our course is tough with those hills, and it becomes a pretty good workout regardless of how hard you’re racing or not,” said Karim. 
During the race, Mikayla Dennis and Makenzi Ham matched strides, with Dennis breaking ahead for a 19th place finish at 23:10.56. Ham finished 20th at 23:11.15. 
“I was especially pleased with how Makenzi and Mikayla ran stride for stride and worked together throughout a majority of the race. That was good for them just because I think they pull each other along when they’re in groove with each other like that,” said Karim. 
Hailey Woodward was back for the meet and placed 27th with a time of 24:33.71.
“It was good to have Hailey back in there again. She probably won’t be an every meet type person, but she’s a pretty talented little runner. So when we get her into the mix, it’s helpful for us,” said Karim. 
Another stretch of Wildcats lined up to finish off the race. Lexi Wilkins was in 30th at 25:19.74, Evelyn Garcia was in 34th at 25:38.71, Kendra Thorp was in 35th at 25:39.77, Brianna Nobel was in 38th at 26:30.69 and Keira Thorp was in 39th at 26:32.39.
For the JV girls, Bella Carrier placed eighth at 27:49.80, Mattea Marshall placed 12th at 28:46.84, Holly Nielsen placed 15th at 30:32.41 and Jacie Behlings placed 18th at 31:58.34. 
After that, the Wildcats headed to the Clyde Cotton XC Invite in Huron, which is on this year’s state meet course. 
Out of 115 varsity boys, Rusch placed 11th at 16:53.32. Krueger wasn’t too far behind, placing 21st at 17:22.22. 
Adam Hohn was Custer’s third runner, clocking in at 37th with a time of 17:54.37. Cooper took 48th at 18:21.90 with a personal record (PR), and Karim said, “He’s been pretty steady each week. He works hard in the races.” 
Lundy finished 77th at 19:12.85 with a season record (SR), and Rice finished 79th at 19:21.25.
Gunnell and Drew did not compete to recover from some soreness, but even in their absence, Karim felt the team was strong and saw improvement in the athletes. 
In the JV boys race, Cooper placed eighth at 19:29.52 (PR), Jayse Noem placed 11th at 19:43.43 (SR) and Pomarleau placed 71st at 24:23.66 (SR). 
Then, out of 99 varsity girls, Dennis placed 51st at 22:07.90 and Ham placed 55th at 22:16.84. 
“The girls that ran the varsity race ran well. Again, Makenzi and Mikayla pulled each other along and were pretty much stride for stride the majority of the race. At the very end, Mikayla pulled away, but generally those guys were running pretty tough,” said Karim. 
Wilkins clocked in at 79th with a time of 23:59.02. Then, Garcia got a SR in 91st with a time of 25:20.49. 
Nobel ran in the JV race and achieved a PR with a 28th place finish and a time of 25:16.30. 
“She’s starting to post times and compete where she might be vying for a varsity spot before everything’s all said and done,” said Karim. “I would call her out as having a really good performance in that JV race. She didn’t have any teammates in there to compare to or pace off of, so she just had to do it on her own, and she’s not an experienced cross country runner. So I thought that was a really good effort.”
Karim said it was important for the Wildcats to see the course and hoped it would boost their confidence going into the state meet. 
Next up, the Wildcats are heading to the Rapid City Area High School Invitational Cross Country Meet at Hart Ranch Friday, Sept. 26.