Cross Country teams bring home trophies

After winning back to back state championships the last two years, the Custer girls cross country team came away from a cold and snowy state meet at Hart Ranch Saturday with a third place trophy. Meanwhile, in the boys race, the Wildcats took home a fourth place trophy.

Junior Kadense Dooley was the frontrunner for the girls, placing sixth in the state with a time of 19:53.70. 

It was Dooley’s highest placing ever and she tied her personal record, according to coach Karen Karim.   

Fellow junior Eva Studt was next to cross the line for the Wildcats. She placed 11th and ran the course in a time of 20:15.67.

“Eva ran about 30 seconds faster than she ever had before,” said Karim. “It’s where I knew she could be all year so I’ve been waiting for that race.”

Back in 22nd place was sophomore Ramsey Karim who finished the race about 30 seconds behind Studt (20:47.43). 

Karim says her daughter was keeping up with the frontrunners through the first three quarters of the race, leading her to think the team might finish second behind eventual winner Hill City. However, she says the runner “ran out of gas” in the last quarter.  

“Ramsey faded terribly in the last 400 and 10 or 12 people passed her in the last part of the race,” said Karim. 

That gave runners from Sioux Falls Christian the opportunity to get in front and finish second as a team. 

Rounding out the team for Custer were three newcomers with no varsity experience prior to this year, including freshman Brit Wheeler, 71st, (22:12.55); seventh grader Hailey Woodward, 81st, (22:35.35) and eighth grader Maya Tennyson, 103rd, (23:32.63).

“I was pleased with where we fit in the team results,” said Karim, “having to go back and score a fourth runner who hasn’t been my fourth runner until the last two weeks after we lost (Sierra Swanson). Brit Wheeler stepped up and ran a race good enough to keep us in the team scoring. It was a rebuilding year for my girls and I can’t complain about being third.” 

In the boys race, it was sophomore Gage Grohs stepping up to be the frontrunner for the Wildcats. Grohs placed ninth in a time of 17:27.50. 

Karim says the race was a “huge PR” for Grohs who beat his old record by more than 20 seconds. 

Junior Miles Ellman, who has been the frontrunner for the Wildcats throughout the season, had an off day and finished 19th in 17:59.52, however he was a mere 32 seconds slower than Grohs. 

Karim said if Ellman had had a better race she believes the boys would have been runners up behind first place Sioux Falls Christian. 

“There’s no way we had the team to beat Sioux Falls Christian,” said Karim, pointing out that the school’s last runner finished in 22nd place. “They’re a phenomenal team this year. They’re stacked really well and they’re talented and deep. I was happy with fourth at that point in time.”  

Junior Preston Drew was next in for Custer. He ran the course in 18:29.10 to finish 34th and was followed across the line one second later by senior teammate Kaleb Wragge who placed 35th with a time of 18:20.75. 

The fifth runner for Custer was junior Pierce Sword who sat out most of the season nursing an injury. Sword finished 44th with a time of 18:33.15. The final runner for the Wildcats was ninth grader Drew Lehman who finished 60th (19:01.03). 

Senior Emma Helfer and Landon Woodward were alternates and Karim says considering the year it has been she had both in uniform and warmed up in case they needed to step in for someone. 

“Emma’s been a nice leader for the younger girls through the season,”  Karim said.  

Karim said while she is always tempted to think about retiring at the end of the season, when she looks at the runners coming back the next year she gets excited about the possibilities for another championship season. 

“We might not be deep (on the girls team) but we’re certainly going to be deeper than we were this year,” said Karim, “and we’re going to be better than we were this year.”

She said the only boy she will be losing to graduation is Wragge and notes there is a good crop of younger boys coming up. 

“Ive got young kids coming up that have been running well in the JV,” said Karim, “and they have seen what it takes to become a competitive runner.”