By Rich Winter 

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s state cross-country meet. The weather forecast is calling for a high of 62 with a light breeze, perfect conditions for fast times.

Rapid City Stevens is the defending Class AA champ, while 2022 individual champion Ali Bainbridge is running at the University of Nebraska. The Sioux Falls Christian girls are the defending Class A champions and Sioux Valley’s Isabelle Bloker handily won the Class A girls race in 2022. The Potter County girls are back to defend their team title as is Chester’s Emery Larson for the Class B individual title. 

Here are a look at some of the athletes and teams expected to contend for titles this weekend

Class B girls: Boekelheide, Larson and Potter County expected to have big weekends

  Two years ago Northwestern eighth-grader Ella Boekelheide won a state title and after winning state titles in 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs the following spring she appeared poised to dominate Class B distance running for the next five years. Last fall, Chester’s Emery Larson seemingly came from nowhere to beat Boekelheide by over a minute (18:15 - 19:19) at the state meet.

As the energy builds for Saturday’s race these two freshmen are poised to battle for the individual title again. Boekelheide has dramatically improved this season. At the Nike Heartland meet on Sept. 9 she cranked out a monster personal best of 17:59 while finishing third. That race was their only head-to-head meeting during the season and Larson finished 20th with a time of 19:23. Larson does have the fastest 5,000-meter time by a Class B high school girl (17:36).

Boekelheide and Larson are a notch above the rest of the contenders but several other sophomores will be up front and contending for high podium finishes. Arlington’s Kaelyn Ulschmid was third a year ago and should be at or near that position Saturday. Two other runners to keep eyes on Saturday will be Highmore/Harrold’s Autumn Fallis and Potter County’s Dannika Kaup. 

B Team Race: A year ago Potter County scored 24 team points, 36 points ahead of the next team, Arlington. The Battlers have everyone back and might be a notch better than they were a year ago and are Saturday’s clear favorite. 

Arlington was second a year ago and should be near the front as a team on Saturday. 

Teams to watch: Frederick Area, Northwestern, Gregory and Lemmon. 

Class A girls: Sioux Valley’s Isabelle Bloker and Sioux Falls Christian girls are top dogs

Every year in Class girls cross country the times get faster and the pool of talent that is capable of running those fast times just seems to grow. Perhaps more than any other race the Class A girls might be the easiest to predict individual and team winners. 

In 2022 Sioux Valley’s Isabelle Bloker won a Class A title (18:32). After winning the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs at the 2023 state track meet Bloker came back for her junior cross-country season stronger and faster than ever.

Her fastest 5,000-meter-run this season has been a 17:27 at the Sioux Valley Invitational on Sep. 26. Sioux Falls Christian’s Ellie Maddox, the 2020 Class A state champion’s top time this season is 18:07. Hanging somewhat near Bloker this season has been Flandreau’s Faith Wiese. The Flandreau runner was 23-seconds behind Bloker at the Region 2A meet last week. 

After Bloker and Wiese a number of talented runners will  be vying for fast times and high podium spots. Hill City’s Abby Cutler figures to be near the front after winning a region title in her remarkable comeback season. Chamberlain’s Kinsey Evans and Milbank’s Ashlynn Batchelor both won region titles and will be in the hunt.

Every member of the Sioux Falls Christian girls team is capable of finishing in the top-ten depending on the day. Senior Corrine Braun has run sparingly this season but seems to always run well in big meets. Jerica Glasser, Maddox, Sadie Pettengil, Natalie Smith and Anna Vyn make up one of the best Class A girls teams in history. 

The state title is Sioux Christian’s to lose. A season ago they were 52 points better than second place Chamberlain and the 2023 team might be slightly better than a year ago.

Other teams to watch: Chamberlain, Vermillion, Sioux Valley, West Central and a vastly improved Dakota Valley team. 

Class AA - O’Gorman’s Libby Castelli and Brandon Valley girls favored

Only a junior, O'Gorman's Libby Castelli is having one of the best high school seasons in South Dakota history. She is undefeated against the state and has just the one loss on the season, a second place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational in September. 

After posting a winning time of 17:31 at the Augie Twilight meet on Sep. 1 it was almost a foregone conclusion then that Castelli was easily the AA favorite. 

Castelli is still the favorite, but she’s got some company in the sub-18, 5,000 meter runner category. Brandon Valley’s Mia Wentzy ran a 17:45, just behind Castelli at the Sioux Falls Metro meet on Oct. 14. Spearfish freshman Peyton VanDeest was right behind Castelli at the Nike Heartland meet on Sep. 9 running (17:47). 

The Class AA champion will come from that trio but also keep an eye on Harrisburg seventh-grader Hannah Gerlach and Brandon Valley sophomore Addison Scholten. 

When the season began the AA team race had no clear-cut favorite. As the season progressed the Lynx from Brandon Valley stepped forward and are the clear favorite for Saturday’s race. Her title and had seven runners finish in the top-17 

Other teams to watch: Sturgis, Spearfish, Rapid City Stevens, Harrisburg, Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Sioux Falls Lincoln