Cross Country Runners Punch Ticket To State

The Milbank Area girls cross country team is headed to State. The runners punched their ticket with a third place finish at the Region 1A meet in Webster Thursday, October 13. The state meet is in Huron on October 22.

“The region meet was another good meet for the Milbank Area teams,” stated Bulldog head coach Eric Townsend. “The girls team survived an unbelievably close team finish. They have battled some injuries and illnesses that hindered some of our performances. If any of the runners had been one place lower, we would not have qualified.”

Taylor Thue led the girls with a fifth place finish and her season best time. Amaya Street finished in eighth place and Danica Schulte was tenth overall. “Danica passed two girls the last 50 meters or so which ended up being the difference in placing in the top three as a team,” explained Townsend.

Milbank Area tied for third place with Redfield-Doland at 47 points. Webster Area was crowned the region champs with 40 points. Aberdeen Roncalli was one point away from qualifying for the state meet with 48 points. Rounding out the team totals were Britton-Hecla and Great Plains Lutheran, 92 points; Deuel, 105 points; and Groton Area, 126 points.

Seventh-grader Nick Batchelor was the lone Bulldog to qualify for State on the boys team. He finished in fourth place. The Bulldogs took fifth place in the team standings with 71 points. Redfield-Doland, Webster Area, and Aberdeen Roncalli captured the top three places with 27, 29, and 55 points, respectively. Also competing were Clark-Willow Lake, 93, and Deuel, 110.

“The boys team didn’t run as well as they had at the conference meet, but still managed to place fifth overall,” said Townsend. “We are a younger team and some of our youthfulness showed up at the region meet. Nick ran outstandingly, placing fourth overall as a seventh- grader.”

In the junior varsity division, four Milbank Area boys finished in the top nine, and the girls took the top four places in the race. “Our JV runners ran outstanding to finish out their season,” noted Townsend.

Complete results from the Region 1A meet:
Girls Varsity 5K Race
5. Taylor Thue, 20:43.23; 8. Amaya Street, 21:12.47; 10. Danica Schulte, 21:21.33; 25. Jatana Grajczyk, 23:08.22; 26. Allison Leddy, 23:08.77; 33. Maiah Brown, 24:15.29.
Boys Varsity 5K Race
4. Nick Batchelor, 17:42.13; 21. Alex Farrell, 19:11.54; 24. Luke Wold, 19:21.20; 25. Kody Johnson, 19:22.61; 30. Ben Harstad, 19:29.63; 33. Zippy Bock, 19:47.12.
Girls Junior Varsity 3K Race
1. Shea Hooth, 14:41.02; 2. Christina Lusk, 14:53.40; 3. Maddie Gustafson, 15:02.53; 4. Savanna Osowski, 15:04.22; 10. Brooke Fraasch, 16:23.85; 14. Marion Mischel, 17:17.54; 15. Isabelle Nowick, 17:44.33.
Boys Junior Varsity 3K Race
1. Caden Bjordahl, 12:14.84; 5. Landon Brown, 12:41.28; 6. Nathan Loutsch, 12:45.22; 9. Isaac Johnson, 13:08.36; 22. Max McCulloch, 13:53.37; 28. Jadus Medicine Crow, 14:15.92; 33. JD Lusk, 14:39.82; 44. Andrew Falk, 18:29.93.