Karim places third at Douglas meet

While her runners have been working hard over a longer than usual summer of training, Custer cross country coach Karen Karim got her first real opportunity to see them in action against other schools on Friday. The Wildcats had their first races of the season at the Douglas Early Bird meet run on the Box Elder golf course. 

Karim’s daughter Ramsey, a sophomore, ran the best race of her career and came in third in the girls varsity race with a time of 21:51.20, beating former teammate Nancy Falkenburg Brown who is now running in a Hill City uniform. She finished fourth. 

Karim says it was hard for her to watch the two girls, who are good friends, compete against each other, but she said if the meet would have been scored out, Custer would have beaten Hill City by one point. 

Because of the absence of team scoring in the race, Karim only entered four runners in the varsity race. 

“The kids did a good job and ran well,” said Karim. However, she said “We’re going to have some challenges out there and we’re going to have to measure up if we want to be where we were last year at the end of the season.”

Varsity veteran Kadense Dooley, a junior, finished in seventh place with a time of 22:21.53 and fellow junior Eva Studt came in 14th, clocking in at 22:39.97. 

Karim said neither girl felt like she ran her best race that day. 

“I’m anxious to see everybody run their best race on the same day and see where we are at,” said Karim. 

Ninth grader Sierra Swanson was the fourth runner, placing ninth in her first ever varsity race. Her time was 22:29.58. 

“I think that is a testament to the hard work that she has run this summer,” said Karim, “and I think she has a great future ahead of her.”

In the boys varsity race, junior Miles Ellman finished fifth with a time of 18:35.19 to bring home a medal. 

Karim said she was glad to see him running with the two front runners which included returning state champion Sawyer Clarkson of Belle Fourche for the first half of the race. 

Noting that Custer is in a tough region, Karim said, “I loved to see my kids battling it out with those front runners.”

In addition, sophomore Gage Grohs, who ran a couple of varsity races toward the end of the season last year, took ninth place with a time of 18:53.70.  

“That’s a big step for him,” remarked Karim. “He’s gonna be good!”

Also in the medals in the meet was 11th grader Preston Drew who ran the course in 18:57.62.

Other finishers for Custer were junior Pierce Sword, 27th, 20:32.81; sophomore Jackson Drew, 41st, 21:30.22 and Landon Woodward, 44th, 21:34.80.

In the JV races Karim said she was excited to see where her boys ended up. Drew Lehman and Alex Van Horn finished sixth and 13th respectively to win awards. 

Of the remaining JV runners, freshman Mical Grace finished 32nd, Kody Marshall was 45th and Joel Tramp came in 52nd. Two of the boys were running in their first cross country race. 

Freshman Hailee Graf placed second in the girls JV race and seventh grader Hailey Woodward got a medal for eighth place. Eighth grader Maya Tennyson placed 12th, sophomore Sadie Moore was 19th and freshman Brit Wheeler was right behind her in 20th place. 

Sophomores Ella Allen and Megan Snyder placed 25th and 28th respectively. 

The only senior on the team, Emma Helfer, was not feeling well and finished 32nd. Her younger sister Peyton, a sophomore, came in 38th. 

“I’m just guessing those girls are gonna get tougher—as they all will—the more races we run,” said Karim.

The team heads to the Northern Hills this Friday for the Spearfish Invite.