Boys take second at conference meet

Defending their home course, the Custer High School boys varsity team took second place at the Black Hills Conference Cross Country Championship Oct. 9 at Rocky Knolls Golf Course in Custer. With three boys finishing in the top 10, Custer walked away with 35 points. This was just five away from Spearfish, the varsity boys team winner.
Peyton Krueger led the ’Cats with a sixth place finish and a time of 17:49.84. Zane Gunnell was next across the line in eighth at 18:25.91. He was followed by Kian Rusch in 10th at 18:31.99 and Zachary Cooper in 11th at 18:39.36.
After that, Austin Drew finished 16th at 18:47.19, and Adam Hohn finished 19th at 19:05.72.
Head coach Karen Karim said Krueger is improving, Rusch is looking better and Gunnell is right where he belongs.
“Zane, Austin and Zachary had great races coming back. Zach had been sick, and Austin and Zane had actually been out for two weeks,” said Karim. “Kian looked better than he did a week ago. He’s still not where I think maybe he’ll be if he has everything clicking.”
In the junior varsity (JV) boys race, Carter Cooper won by about a minute and a half, clocking in at 18:38.07.
“He ended up being faster than one of my varsity runners, so he hops into the varsity for this week,” said Karim.
Also in the JV race, Jayse Noem placed second at 20:07.32, Saylor Rice placed fifth at 20:35.77, Brooks Wheeler placed 14th at 21:24.44, Jared Cooper placed 23rd at 22:57.71, Samuel Cochran placed 24th at 22:57.97 and Jaxson Pomarleau placed 35th at 25:29.40.
“It ended up being a great race on the boys side,” said Karim. “They were running gutsy races, running for spots on the team next week, running for their team this week in terms of conference competition.”
Regardless of which boys end up running next, Karim said the team is seven deep, which is a testament to its overall strength.
“That’s a testament to our depth and the hard work that the kids put in from week to week. I hope that they are proud of that instead of taking it the hard way and thinking about how they get beat out from a certain spot. It’s always a tough call,” said Karim.
Meanwhile, for the Custer girls, Karim said, “I had a lot of girls that had their best race of the season...Considering our Custer course isn’t very fast. It’s a hard course. It’s got all those hills. It’s a pretty big deal to run your best races at that course. So I was impressed with them.”
Mikayla Dennis led the varsity girls with a 25th place finish and a time of 23:22.23. Makenzi Ham was close behind in 28th at 23:51.04. Lexi Wilkins clocked in next in 37th at 25:30.02, followed by Kendra Thorp in 39th at 25:53.92. Then, Evelyn Garcia finished 41st at 26:05.87 and Keira Thorp finished 43rd at 26:44.56.
Hailey Woodward should be joining the Wildcats for the region race.
In the girls JV race, Karim said, “Almost every one of the JV girls had a personal record or one of their best races of the season. They are kind of shifting around, bumping each other from different spots.”
Brianna Nobel placed sixth at 24:50.98, Emma Halverson placed seventh at 25:32.52, Bella Carrier placed 11th at 27:17.76, Mattea Marshall placed 15th at 28:17.18, Holly Nielsen placed 17th at 31:07.81 and Jacie Behlings placed 18th at 31:25.16.
“I was proud of Jacie Behlings, who’s a senior. She’s worked very, very hard. And to have her come in in front of the home crowd—yeah, it’s a JV race—but boy, it was her best effort, and it was great. It was awesome to see,” Karim said.
The Wildcats run Thursday, Oct. 16, at the South Dakota High School Activities Association Region 5A Cross Country Meet at Hart Ranch starting at 10 a.m. for their chance to punch their ticket to the State Cross Country meet in Huron Oct. 25.
The top 20 runners and top three teams will compete at the state meet.
Karim said based on the conference competition, the Custer boys have a good chance at making it into the top three teams, but the Custer girls have a ways to go to qualify.
“If my kids have good races, my hope is that they can qualify as individuals and at least get to go to state,” said Karim. “They’re going to have to work for it.”