By Rich Winter

605 Sports

PHILIP — The road to success for Philip’s Jack Peterson kicked into gear in November 2023.

Unable to crack the varsity lineup in each of the state championship teams of 2022 and ‘23, Peterson delivered a massive personal best at the Nike Heartland Regional in 2023.

“He ran 17:45 last year then at the Nike meet he ran a 17:01,” Ralph Kroetch, Philip cross-country coach, said.

That dip in time came after the non-varsity runner asked to keep his mileage up late in the season.

“He asked specifically not to taper down,” Kroetch said. “While the other guys were tapering down for the state meet he kept on running 40-mile weeks for three weeks.”

During the winter months, Peterson could be seen on the quiet roads in Haakon County, by himself, putting in the work. That work translated to a 10th-place finish in the 3,200-meter run (10:22) at the 2023 Class B state track meet. 

That winter work was only the beginning and this summer, he hit a training plateau that Kroetch called a mega-summer of putting in 348 miles. The extra miles laid the foundation and the unknown junior has been Philip’s top runner in every meet this season but one. 

“He’s been super consistent this year after getting that base,” Kroetch said. “He doesn’t shy away from mileage and if I ask them to do nine miles on a long run he will do more than that.”

At 5-foot-4 and 105-pounds, Peterson may not catch your eye at the starting line. By race's end Peterson has been coming into focus and Mark Twain’s “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog,” applies. 

“As a freshman he came in at about 65 pounds,” Kroetch said. “A few years ago he gave up on wrestling because he was never going to make the lightest weight class and I think he’s got a bit of a chip on his shoulder and that fight comes out when he’s running.”

That fight also shows up in practice where Peterson and fellow junior Baylor Burns (seventh at 2023 Class B state meet) have been known to have some spirited battles.

“Baylor is an extremely talented runner and those guys really get after each other in practice,” Kroetch said. 

The Scotties graduated three seniors, Wakely Burns, Asher Peterson (Jack’s older brother) and Tukker Boe. When Philip arrived home from the 2023 state meet, the underclassmen got off the bus, huddled up and committed to working hard for a possible third straight Class B state title. 

Philip won Thursday’s Chamberlain Invitational with 12 points, 20 points better than Class A Sioux Valley (32). At Saturday’s Lyman cross-country meet the Scotties swept the top-four individual positions led by Baylor Burns (17:19) and easily won the team title. 

“The team is coming along,” Kroetch said. “The winds kind of hampered our efforts on Saturday but we’ll get moving along and get ready for the stretch run.”

The Scotties have their conference meet on Wednesday and then compete at Friday’s Rapid City Invitational. Kroetch said he always tried to schedule a few big meets like the Nike Heartland pre-regional and the Rapid City meet that features runners from multiple classes and states. 

“It means everything to us to race in those big meets,” Kroetch said. “It shows you have to fight to hold position and helps quiet any kinds of nerves at the state meet.”

Philip, along with Mitchell Christian, are expected to contend for the Class B team title in October in Rapid City.