MADISON — After a summer of workouts, the Huron High School and Middle School cross country teams got to face competition Friday, opening the season at the John Collignon Invitational, which was contested at the Madison Country Club.

Varsity, Junior Varsity and Middle School races were contested for both boys and girls.

VARSITY
The Brookings Bobcats took the boys’ varsity team title while the Sioux Valley Cossacks aced the girls’ varsity race.

The Bobcats finished with 12 points in the event, led by teammates Ernest Ting and Jacob York. Ting ran the 5K course in 17:44.79 to take medalist honors. Madison was second in the team race with 45 points, just edging the Huron Tigers, who finished with 49.

Huron’s TJ Lien fought off an injury to post a ninth-place finish in the race, leading the Tiger scorers, and crossing the line in 20:04.23. Younger brother and teammate Teagen Lien was three slots back, at 20:28.86, while Angelo Medina and James Weir finished 17th and 18th, respectively.

Other Tiger runners included Alec Pester in 19th, Will Knippling in 20th and Cameron Cutshaw in 24th.

The Cossack girls ran away with the varsity race, finishing with five runners in the top seven, but had the top four scoring runners, as Huron, Brookings and Chester all had too few runners to form a team.

Isabelle Bloker was the first Sioux Valley runner across the line in 18:38.99, followed by Emery Larson of Chester and Addie Smetana of Brookings. Huron’s Josie Vlieger finished in sixth place, clocking a time of 23:01.45 and teammate Tatum Peteson finished 18th.

JUNIOR VARSITY
Huron’s Lily Meyer was first across the line in the girls’ junior varsity race, finishing in a time of 19:48.17. Overall, Brookings took the team title with 22 points, while the Tigers were right behind with 26.

In addition to Meyer, Nora Pester was 7th for Huron, Hannah Schoenfelder finished in 12th and Kayeleigh Bowden was 17th.

Brookings posted a perfect 10 to take the team title in the junior varsity boys’ division, led by Shane Harming’s winning effort of 15:03.84. Leading the way for the Tigers in scoring was Roel Rodriguez Reyes in 7th place, with Sebastian Olivo on slot back. Lucas Chaparro Harms was 13th and Edvin Rodriguez Reyes was 15th. Other Huron runners included Joshua Olivo in 19th, Emerson Sarvis in 21st and Ryan Florey in 23rd.

In the boys’ division, Dylan Haar led the way, finishing the 3K race in 11:37.02. Huron, which finished with 50 points, good for third in the meet, was led by Tucker Lien and Ira Sarvis, who finished 13th and 14th, respectively.

Henry Kruse (17th) and Hayze Goertz (18th) rounded out the scorers for Huron. Other top-30 finishers included Colt Fenske in 20th, Maxwell Radke in 21st and Corbin Fuchs in 25th.

Kalla Foerster led the Brookings sweep of the top spots in the girls’ race, finishing in 13:07.92.  

Huron scorers included Stokley Palmer in 8th, with Reva McGaugh and Kinsley Armstrong right behind in 9th and 10th. Makenna Porisch finished 13th.

Other top 30 finishers included Kayleigh Nicola in 15th, Natalee McGaugh in 27th and Harper Spilde in 30th.

The Tigers are back in action Sept. 1, when they run at the Augustana Twilight Cross Country Meet in Sioux Falls.