By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Canistota senior Josiah Schroeder has waited patiently to become the best Class B boys distance runner in South Dakota.

While he’s been on the radar of every Class B distance runner and fans of distance running for the past three years, Schroeder finally punched his ticket to a state championship last fall while winning the Class B state cross country title. 

“I was thinking about all the great distance runners I’ve had to compete against coming into the fall,” Schroeder said. “Then I saw that Lane Krautchun (formerly of Bison) moved to Belle Fourche. Initially I was kinda sad because I wanted to run against him but then I saw his times and figured he would have beaten me at the state meet.”

Turns out Schroeder won that Class B cross country race by almost 30-seconds, a win that punctuated several long years of working for a state title. 

“It was a great feeling,” he said. “I went into the season trying to do well at the state meet and I set a personal best on a long, tough course.” 

That win, the mentality that comes with being a state champion and spending some extra time training this winter has Schroeder running fast as the state track meet begins Thursday in Sioux Falls. 

“I did train pretty hard this winter,” he said. “I think that work and the experience and all the years of training have pushed me but all glory goes to God.” 

Entering the state track meet Schroeder has top times in the 800-meter run (2:02.14) the 1,600 meter run (4:34.74) and the fastest 3,200 meter run (9:55.88). Schroeder says he expects to also contest the sprint medley relay where the Hawks have the seventh fastest time (3:44.67) coming into the state meet.

Schroeder is hoping to contribute to some team success for the Hawks at that state meet.

“I think we can do pretty well,” he said. “We have the medley relay and some good sprinters and throwers and then me in the distance races.” 

There will be some nerves in Sioux Falls next week as Schroeder is coming off a calf injury sustained while running the 3,200 meter run at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays. 

“With about 200-250 meters left in the race I felt something trigger in my calf,” he said. “I had so much adrenaline going that I don’t think it affect my time as I set my new personal best.” 

The last few weeks have been slow for Schroeder who did not run in the Region 3B meet on Wednesday on the advice of doctors and trainers. “I probably could have run on Wednesday but I just listened to what the trainers and chiropractors told me,” he said. “I’ve been doing some really tough bike workouts and I’ll start running again this weekend.” 

He did manage to squeeze in some time to mentor Canistota eighth grader Kaden Christian. 

“The last two weeks have been kind of boring,” he said. “I worked with Kaden, trying to get him qualified for state and that was exciting to see him run.” 

Schroeder plans to attend the University of Sioux Falls next year to continue running while studying Media Studies and English.