Boys first, girls third at home meet

The Custer High School cross country team had double duty this week as it raced in its home meet in Custer on Thursday before trekking East River to race in Huron on Saturday.
Over in Huron, the boys team came away with third place in the crowded competion, beat out only by larger AA schools.
“They placed third overall which is kind of a big deal because those are AA schools,” said head coach Karen Karim.
Once again, Sean Shipp led the boys team to a strong showing at both meets. In Huron, Shipp earned third place with a time of 16:22.39. Behind Shipp in 18th place was Kian Rusch, who finished in 17:30.32.
Then came two more Custer runners to take 23rd and 24th place.  Peyton Krueger came in 23rd at 17:45.01, followed by Austin Drew at 17:49.07.  Ayden Dooley finished the race in 18:57.40, good for 51st place.  Zane Gunnell earned 66th place with a time of 19:40.36. In 72nd place was Saylor Rice with a time of 19:56.70.
The boys team came away with third place at the meet, coming in behind Aberdeen Central and Brookings.
“Those younger boys are stepping in and running well,” said Karim. With five weeks left in the season, the team will have to cut down to six varsity runners, and the good problem the team has is that there are lots of good athletes in the running.
On the girls team, healthy runners are harder to come by at the moment.
“On the girls side, I could use more girls getting into the scoring. We just need to get everyone healthy to make an impact,” said Karim. This past week, Maya Tennyson and Keria Alfson—two of some of the team’s top runners—sat out to recover from injuries.
“The hope is to try to get Keira and Maya back this week,” said Karim.
The girls team raced four runners in Huron.
The first Wildcat over the finish line was Mikayla Dennis    with a time of 21:59.92    2, good for 42nd place. In 51st place was Makenzi Ham with a time of 22:28.02.
Lexi Wilkins earned 63rd place with a time of 23:09.48. Ava Miller crossed the finish line in 25:29.51 to earn 85th place.
Before the Huron meet, the teams raced in a home meet at Rocky Knolls Golf Course in Custer on Thursday.
Shipp came away with first place in the boys varsity with a time of 17:22.40.     
Drew came in fifth place with a time of 18:41.02. Not far behind was Krueger in seventh place with a time of 18:55.10    .
In 12th was Gunnell, who finished in 19:22.11. Dooley came in 21st with a time of 20:22.43.    
Conner Lundy finished in 20:41.51 to earn 25th place. Rice finished 33rd, coming across the finish line in 20:54.9. In 39th was Dylan Frank at 21:22.48.
The boys team effort was enough to give them first place in the meet. The girls also did well, coming away with third place.
First to finish for the Wildcats was Dennis in 12th with 23:45.01. Ham was only fractions of a second behind with a time of 23:45.05    .
Wilkins finished in 16th place with a time of 25:04.96    .
In 22nd palce was Evelyn Garcia with a time of 26:22.26. Miller earned 28th place with a time of 29:25.25.
“Overall, the kids competed well in both. We tried to train through a little but and they still looked good. The kids that ran I was very pleased with,” said Karim.
This weekend, the team heads to Hart Ranch in Rapid City for a meet on Friday.
“It will be a pretty big meet just because state is going to be there, and we’ll get a lot of teams coming from elsewhere just to get a look at the course,” said Karim.