Payton Brown Wins Medal at State Cross Country Meet

Junior Payton Brown won the sixth-place medal at the 2022 South Dakota State Class A Cross Country Meet in Huron on October 22. As a team, the Bulldogs brought home seventh place, and as a team, the Lady Bulldogs took ninth.

Eric Townsend, head coach for both MHS teams, commented, “Payton ran one of his best races of the season.  He was the top Milbank finisher and placed sixth overall, improving upon his 11th-place finish a year ago. Payton has established himself as one of the top distance runners in the state.  He is a great competitor and pushes himself throughout races.  Not many runners have the kick that Payton has to finish a race.” Payton is the son of Patrick and Jenny Brown.

“Both teams ran pretty well against some great competition,” Townsend observed. “I think this Class A field might have been the best I have ever seen. The boys team just missed the awards stand by two points and they were only three points away from being in fifth place”. 

“Had this meet been the NEC or Region 1A meet, the girls would have taken home both of those team titles against the same schools,” Townsend said. “Overall, against the same region and NEC schools, we ran better and placed higher. I am proud of how we finished the season at the state meet.  Both teams ran their best races in October and that has always been our season-long goal.” 

Boys 5K Run—-Sawyer Clarkson and Lane Krautschun, both of Belle Fourche, took the top two places in the boys’ 5K race.  Clarkson’s winning time was 15:30.28. Payton Brown took sixth place for the Bulldogs when he crossed the line at 16:40.55. Junior James Batchelor was next for the Dawgs at 33rd place. He finished at 17:50.60. Bryan Meyer, a sophomore, came in at 18:04.54 for 42nd place. 

Junior Isaac Graham clocked in at 18:20.80 to take 55th place. Grant Van Peursum, also a junior, took 91st at 19:10.98. Eighth-grader Beckham Berry finished at 19:25.23 for 100th place.

Team standings included:  (1) Belle Fourche (2) Hill City (3) Sioux Falls Christian (4) Custer (5) Dakota Valley (6) Vermillion (7) Milbank (8) Miller (9) Lennox (10) West Central (11) Flandreau (12) Ethan-Parkston (13) Deuel (14) Chamberlain (15) Aberdeen Roncalli and (16) Kimball-White Lake.

Girls 5K Run Isabelle Bloker, a sophomore at Sioux Valley, won the girls’ 5K race. She clocked in at 18:32.67. Freshman Ashlynn Batchelor was the top finisher for the Lady Bulldogs. She recorded a time of 20:45.04 for 38th place. 

Seventh-grader Bianca Berry came in next for Milbank at 51st place with her time of 21:17.06. Senior Maurina Street crossed the line at 21:2416 to take 60th place. Ellie Neugebauer, also a senior, finished in 70th place at 21:36.34. Junior Kynlee Speidel came in at 81st with her time of 21:54.68. Sophomore Tyra Berry’s time of 22:06.57 earned 91st place.

Team standings included: (1) Sioux Falls Christian (2) Chamberlain (3) Custer (4) Red Cloud (5) Vermillion (6) Sioux Valley (7) West Central (8) Hill City (9) Milbank (10) Lennox (11) Dakota Valley (12) Kimball-White Lake (13) Clark-Willow Lake (14) Deuel and (15) Miller.