By Rich Winter

605 Sports

All season long Miller’s Pierce Baumberger and teammate Alex Schumacher have been neck-and-neck with both athletes trading victories throughout the season. 

For the last month of the season Baumberger has been fighting back pain. A quick trip to the chiropractor and a slight adjustment to his stride has Baumberger feeling good again. At Saturday’s Action Club Meet in Highmore the junior won the race (16:17) finishing in front of Philip’s Wakely Burns (16:25) and Schumacher (16:47). 

Fun act about Baumberger.

At last year’s Class A state track meet Baumberger initially crossed the line of the 3,200 meter run in ninth place (9:49). One of the athletes in front of him was initially disqualified so Baumberger was awarded the eight place medal. That athlete was later reinstated so Baumberger is one of the few South Dakota athletes to have an eighth place medal, after a ninth place finish. 

Ten topics of discussion for week ending Oct. 3

• Walter Graesser, Platte-Geddes: Only an eighth grader Graesser won a cross-county race in Parker on Wed. Sep. 27. He followed that performance with a strong outing at the SESD conference meet in Burke with a fourth place finish. 

• Newell having a strong season: The Newell cross country teams both had strong outings at Tuesday’s Wall Invitational. The Newell girls had four athletes, led by individual champion Rachel Erk (21:58) place in the top-ten. The Newell boys, led by individual champion Clint Winkler (18:11) had three athletes finish in the top-ten. 

• Dakota XII conference meet: The last time the Vermillion girls and Dakota Valley girls ran against each other they tied for the team title, with Vermillion getting the nod on the tiebreaker. Both of these teams should be in the hunt for team hardware at the state meet and Friday’s meet will serve as the perfect tuneup before region and state meets. 

• Top Boys Performances: As we head to the region meets here are the top boys 5,000 meter efforts of the season. Philip’s Wakely Burns has the top time in Class B this season (16:14). Hill City’s Luke Rupert has the top time in Class A (15:16). Pierre’s Jared Lutmer has the top time in Class AA (15:34). 

• Top Girls Performances: Defending Class B champion, Chester’s Emery Larson has the fastest time (17:36) followed by Northwestern’s Elle Boekelheide (17:59). Sioux Valley’s Isabelle Bloker is 40-seconds faster than the next athlete with a season's best of (17:27). O’Gorman’s Libby Castelli has the top AA time of (17:31). 

• Flandreau boys coming on strong: At Monday’s LCC conference meet the Flandreau boys won the team title with 12 points. Brenton Westberry (second-place), Matthew Gassman (fourth place), Tanner Reed (sixth place), Benjamin Kulm (19:40) and Logan Kontz (ninth place). Five athletes in top-nine bodes well for the Fliers to be competitive the rest of the season. 

• Deuel cross-country: At Thursday’s Sisseton Invitational the Deuel girls won the event scoring just six points. Jaycee Hourigan ran the 5,000 meter course in 21 minutes and 15.5 seconds. Teammates Isabella Imm was third with Shyla Tvedt finishing fourth. The Deuel boys also scored six points to win the boys team title. Freshman Tyson Hagberg won that race 19:58 followed closely by freshman teammate Caden Hourigan (20:08). 

• O’Gorman’s Libby Castelli in rare air: On Sep. 22 at the Roy Griak meet O’Gorman’s Libby Castelli ran to a second place finish (18:03), the highest finish in O’Gorman history. South Dakota has a good tradition at this meet as Krista Eckert won in 2003 and 2004. Sister Allison Eckert won that same race in 2006. 

• ESD conference showdown Saturday: Two of the top teams in Class AA, Brandon Valley and Harrisburg will collide in Sioux Falls on Saturday. The last time these two met Brandon Valley scored 27 points to just edge Harrisburg who had 34 points. 

• Conference meet galore Thursday: Fitting that right before we head into region action that a bunch of conference meets will take place. Thursday’s meet list includes the Big East Conference in Salem, the Black Hills Conference in Rapid City, the Dakota XII meet in Vermillion and the Northeast Conference Meet in Webster. Cheyenne-Eagle Butte and Ethan/Parkston will also hold meets on a very busy Thursday.