Runners Earn Berth to State Cross Country Meet

During the Region 1A meet in Webster Thursday, The Milbank Area girls cross country team, along with three individual boys, earned the right to compete at the State Class A meet in Sioux Falls Saturday, October 24. The girls team secured third place in the team standings with 50 points. The top three teams in each region advance to the state meet. Redfield-Doland was crowned Region 1A champions with 39 points while Webster Area was the runner-up with 42.

“The region meet was a pretty good meet for us,” commented Milbank Area head coach Eric Townsend. “We had a number of top performances. The competition was fairly even with some close times and places.”

Eighth grader Danica Schulte earned the top spot for the Lady Bulldogs with a sixth place finish. “Danica ran her best race of the season,” noted Townsend. “Her time was pretty close to the same time, on the same course, under much windier conditions than a week ago. She has developed into one of the top runners from our region and seems to improve every meet. She really competed hard and battled.”

Also placing in the top 20 for the Lady Bulldogs were freshman Taylor Thue, and seventh graders Amaya Street and Madi Thue. T. Thue was close behind Schulte with eighth place while Street finished 18th and M. Thue, 20th.

The top 20 individual runners also advance to the state meet, but because the girls qualified as a team, all runners will compete for a team title. Rounding out the girls team was Allison Leddy, 22nd, and Jatana Grajczyk, 25th.

On the boys side, Milbank Area landed in fourth place in the team standings, just outside the qualifying mark. The Bulldogs tallied 60 points. Great Plains Lutheran earned the region title with 21 points. Webster Area was second with 36 points while Redfield-Doland was third with 48.

Earning a chance to run at the state meet were Tanner Bock, Dylan Johnson and Caden Bjordahl. Bock finished in 15th, Johnson, 16th and Bjordahl, 17th. Also running for the boys team were Kody Johnson, 24th; Luke Wold, 30th, and Elias Magilke, 33rd.

“Tanner didn’t run as well as he did at the NEC meet, but still turned in a state qualifying performance,” mentioned Townsend. “Caden ran his best race of the season. He improved his time on this course by nearly 40 seconds. Most of the runners were slower because of the windy conditions.”

The Milbank Area runners will conclude their season at the state meet Saturday. The girls Class A race is slated for 1:30 p.m. while the boys Class A race will be at 3 p.m. Awards are set for 4 p.m. The event will take place at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls.

Following are the complete results from the Region 1A meet:
                                                                                                 Varsity Girls 5K Run
6. Danica Schulte, 21:25.05; 8. Taylor Thue, 21:38.15; 18. Amaya Street, 22:27.22; 20. Madi Thue, 22:49.21; 22. Allison Leddy, 23:00.03; 25. Jatana Grajczyk, 23:20.39.
Team scores – Redfield-Doland, 39; Webster Area, 42; Milbank Area, 50; Britton-Hecla, 56; Aberdeen Roncalli, 57; Great Plains Lutheran, 74; Groton Area, 121; Deuel, 128.
                                                                                                  Varsity Boys 5K Run
15. Tanner Bock, 18:53.84; 16. Dylan Johnson, 18:58.30; 17. Caden Bjordahl, 19:01.87; 24. Kody Johnson, 19:21.16; 30. Luke Wold, 20:08.08; 33. Elias Magilke, 20:43.98.
Team scores – Great Plains Lutheran, 21; Webster Area, 36; Redfield-Doland, 48; Milbank Area, 60; Aberdeen Roncalli, 64; Britton-Hecla, 105; Groton Area, 139; Deuel, 140.
                                                                                                  Junior Varsity Girls 3K Run
2. Mitayh Medicine Crow, 14:38.00; 3. Shea Hooth, 14:57.00; 4. Christina Lusk, 15:03.00; 5. Sophia Seffrood, 15:04.00; 6. Shauna Pauli, 15:09.00; 8. Tori Hooth, 15:30.00; 16. Allison Pillatzki,