By Rich Winter

605 Sports

The cross-country postseason is upon us and over the next few weeks we will see the efforts of hundreds of miles run, dozens of hills climbed and fantastic finishes we’ll talk about for the next several years. 

The bigger battles will come next week but let’s not take anything away from this week’s Class A and Class B regional athletes where athletes must finish in the top-20 or be on a team that finishes in the top-three for both Class B and Class A. 

The top-tier athletes will get plenty of love next week. So here is my look at some runners that are having superb seasons that might be flying a little bit under the radar. 

Micah Reede, Lemmon: Only a seventh-grader, Micah Reede has been making plenty of noise out west. Micah’s dad Scott said that his son won a lot of meets as a sixth-grader but no one was quite sure what to expect this year. Well, on Sept. 6 Reede won the Marlene Gustafson/Ryan Day Memorial cross-country run in Faith, covering the 5,000-meter course in 18:27. Philip coach Ralph Kroetch noted that he expected Reede to be in contention for a top-five finish at Wednesday’s Region 5B meet in Philip. On Friday, Oct. 6. Reede finished sixth at the Philip Invitational with a time of 17:27. 

Look for Reede to be a state qualifier and then will fight for a spot on the Class B podium next week. 

Madeline Nye, Miller: Miller senior Madeline Nye has been a regular at the state cross-country meet qualifying in each of the last three seasons. As a freshman she finished 37th at the Class B state meet (21:39). In 2022 she was 45th at the Class A state meet (21:08) and last year she was 60th at the Class A state meet (20:58). Nye's times have been steadily coming down this season and on Oct. 10. Nye delivered a massive personal best (19:10) at a meet in Gettysburg. At that meet, Nye finished 36 seconds ahead of Potter County’s Dannika Kaup who was third at the 2023 Class B state meet. 

Gage Beverly, Vermillion: Only a freshman, Gage Beverly is having a breakout season for the Tanagers. Beverly finished third at the Dak-12 meet on Oct. 10 behind Dakota Valley’s Jack Brown (16:11) and Sioux Falls Christian’’s Jackson Prins (16:35). Brown is among the favorites to win the Class A individual title this year so Beverly is in good company and will be aiming for a top-ten finish at next week’s Class A state meet. 

Lane McCune, Freeman: I have to admit here that I am one of the biggest cross-country and track and field nerds in South Dakota. Last spring I kept tabs on a bunch of eighth-graders from Freeman that tore up the middle-school circuit before being moved up to the high school team. McCune is just a freshman and on Oct. 2 he won the Colman-Egan Invitational covering the 5,000-meter course in 17:20. Keep an eye on this young man at Wednesday’s Region 3B meet and next week’s state meet.

Grace Phillips, Chamberlain: Chamberlain has such a rich tradition of distance running and it looks like cross-country coach Holly Evans has another good one in the making. Phillips finished 17th at the 2023 Class A state meet (19:26) and looks poised to make a much bigger splash this year. In early October Phillips finished second at the Lennox Invitational (18:35.71) getting outkicked to the line by Orioles senior Kelsey Schmidt (18:35.25). 

Lia Mundt, Belle Fourche: Mundt finished 48th at the Class A state meet in 2023 (20:30) but she will likely finish much higher this season. Belle Fourche girls cross-country coach Britt Clarkson said Mundt spent the whole summer running with her and going to trail and road races. Clarkson said the pair would get up at 6:00 a.m. in the winter time to go running. At the Black Hills Conference meet on Oct. 10 Mundt finished third (20:13) behind Spearfish athletes Peyton VanDeest (19:34) and Kori Keil (19:57). Don’t be fooled by the times as VanDeest and Keil finished second and ninth respectively at the 2023 Class AA state meet. 

Deuel boys: It might be a good idea for Deuel Athletic Director Todd Ralph to start adding onto the current trophy case. Prior to Thursday’s Region 1A meet the Cardinals have competed in 12 meets, winning 10 of them. With a very young roster the Cardinals are only going to get better. At the Lake Central Conference Meet on Oct. 7, sophomore Caden Hourigan was second (17:47), sophomore Sutton Benck was third (17:49) and sophomore Tyson Hagberg fourth (17:49). Freshman Gavin Mattson was 11th (19:12). This may not be the year the Cardinals contend for a team title at the state meet but let’s just say the next few years are going to be very interesting.