Vikings earn boys’ ‘B’ state cross country title

SIOUX FALLS — Never again let it be said that cross country is not a ‘team’ sport. The James Valley Christian Vikings won their third Class “B” State Championship in four years Saturday afternoon on the Yankton Trail Park Course, over the Warner Monarchs by the very narrowest of margins. Just ask Colton Schweigert.
The Vikings were among six state champions crowned, encompassing a total of four schools at the season ending event, over the largely flat 5,000 kilometer course in southern Sioux Falls.
Deubrook Area won the “B” girls’ championship, while the Custer Wildcats won both the boys’ and girls titles in Class “A,” and Sioux Falls Lincoln swept both titles in Class “AA.”
When the scoring was done in the the Class “B” boys’ race, both JVC and Warner had identical 44-point totals from their top three runners. Warner’s Cody Warner won medalist honors in a time of 16:32.14 and teammate Michael Wirth finished fifth for a total of five points. Warner’s third runner - three places are scored at the state meet, finished 59th in the field, for 39 points. (Team points are only assigned to runners whose schools are eligible for the team title).
James Valley Christian’s Darrian Hood finished 14th, with teammate Braden Held on his heels a half-second back in 15th, scoring 11 and 12 points, respectively. The third Viking runner was Daniel Ayoroa, who crossed in 32nd position, scoring 21 points.
So a tie-breaker was put into effect. The tie breaker, according to JVC coach Tom Brantner, was the finishing position of both teams’ fourth runner, meaning that Schweigert, who finished in 48th position and didn’t score a team point, won the team title for the Vikings, as the next Warner runner was in 59th place.
“I am so proud of the way the kids battled here today,” Brantner said after the race. “For those senior boys (Held,  Hood and Schweigert) it is their third state title in four years. That is quite an accomplishment for this group.”

It was the third team title in four years for the Vikings, who finished in fifth place last fall in Rapid City.
“They delayed the start of the race about a few minutes,” Brantner added, “because Colton got a bloody nose just as they were taking off their sweats. It was actually gushing blood and the meet official told us after the race that they really thought he wouldn’t be able to run and that he had never seen anything like that in all his years of officiating. I was proud of the way Colton gutted out that race. It was his worst time of the year except for our first race of the season, but his drive to compete ended up making the difference for us. Unfortunately, he had hoped to be all-state in his senior season, but it was still one of the gutsiest performances I have ever seen.”
Other Heartland-area finishers included Baylor Beck of De Smet in 13th and Wessington Springs’ AJ Neely in 25th, both of whom earned All-State recognition (along with Hood and Held) for their top-25 finishes.
Travis Hass and Jace Burma of Sunshine Bible Academy finished 31st and 34th, respectively; Charlie Spieker of Clark-Willow Lake was 43rd and Logan Millman of De Smet was 45th.
SBA’s Jace Burma was 63rd, Schuyler McElhone of C-Wl was 67th and SBA runner Paul Evertt was one place back in 68th. Tate Haider of Wolsey-Wessington finished 70th in the race.
The Huron Tigers’ boys’ team finished 16th in the “AA” race and the girls’ team finished in 17th.
Aaron Ryan of Aberdeen Central took the boys’ “AA” title in a time of 15:31.73. Carlos Yanes finished 65th in the boys race for Huron coach Angie Thomas. Frank Hines was 73rd and Will Radke finished 75th. Angel Olivio-Porkayo was 105th for Huron.
The Tiger girls’ team was led by Sami Shoultz’s 54th place finish, while Victoriah Buffington was 76th, Brayloee Thomas finished 94th and Tatum Peterson crossed in 105th.
Sioux Falls Lincoln took the boy’s title by a wide margin - downing runner-up Rapid City Stevens by a score of 22-103. The Warrior girls’ had a tighter race, as they outpaced Rapid City Central 68-84.
The Deubrook Area Dolphins took the girls’ title by a comfortable margin over runner-up Ipswich, 29 points to 43. Jolie Dugan of Jones County was the individual champion in girls’ Class “B.” Heartland-area finishers included Abby Hasart and Madelynn Brantner of JVC in 16th and 51st place, respectively, while teammate AbbyKate Hamilton was 56th.
Hanna Terkildsen of Sanborn Central-Woonsocket finished 58th, Emily Martens of De Smet was 77th and Highmore-Harrold runner Maddie Knox was 82nd
Custer won the boys’ “A” title by six points over Vermillion, 60-66. Individual medalist was Alec Atwood of Beresford. The Wildcat girls’ title was more comfortable, 50-63 over Black Hills neighbor Hill City. Ella Byers of Chamberlain was individual medalist.
Heartland finishers in the Class “A” boys’ ranks included Caden Gortmacher of Miller in 68th, Redfield-Doland’s Carsten McNeil in 84th, and Miller’s Talon Knox finished 94th. Girls finishers included Redfield-Doland’s Ally Croeni (55th), Avery Miles (80th) and Kyra Utecht (95), while Miller’s Abby Ketelhut was 92nd.
Complete team standings and top-25 finishers in all divisions are in today’s Sports Stats section.