By Rich Winter

605 Sports

The South Dakota state cross-country meet will double as a family reunion for Potter County and Mobridge-Pollock fans.

The two schools, separated by 60 miles, have five runners that are cousins on their cross-country teams. 

Mobridge-Pollock junior distance ace Heidi Olson is joined on the Tiger roster by her first cousin Faith Heil. Heidi’s mother Jill (Knutson) Olson and Faith’s mom Jackie (Knutson) Heil are sisters. Potter County siblings Emma and Nicholas Schlachter are cousins to the Mobridge-Pollock runners, all with connections to the Cronin family. 

So Saturday’s state meet in Broadland Creek National Golf Course in Huron will be another chance for the families to get together. 

“We have been spending a lot of time following the kids in all sports,” Jill Olson said. “They are always excited when they run into each other and against each other about four times a year.” 

Don’t be surprised if the cousins make some serious noise during Saturday’s state meet. 

The Potter County girls team was the Class B team runner up in 2021. With that roster intact, and coming off a spectacular regular season the Jessica Larson coached squad heads into Saturday’s Class B girls race as one of the favorites to win the Class B team championship. 

Led by Region 4B champion, freshman Dannika Kaup, Potter County runners Jadyn Ahlemeier, Emma Schlachter, Paige Ahlemeier and Rayel Person all finished in the top-seven at their region meet as the Battlers accumulated just eight team points. 

Person ran at the region meet but will sit out Saturday’s state meet with a stress fracture. Her replacement, Peyton Stevens is also a cousin. Her great grandfather was a brother to Heidi Olson’s grandmother. 

Nicholas Schlachter won the Region 4B title last week. After finishing fifth at the state meet as a sophomore, Schlachter is among the pre race favorites to win an individual Class B championship on Saturday. 

Olson, a junior for Mobridge-Pollock, won the Region 4B championship last week. Having finished 4th in 2020 and 9th in 2021 Olson enters Saturday’s race as one of the runners expected to contend for a Class A individual title in an absolutely loaded field. 

Heil finished 9th at this year’s Region 4B cross country race. 

Potter County wrestling coach Mike Schlachter, parents to Emma and Nicholas, expects the cousins to enjoy their state meet experience on Saturday. 

“Being 60 miles away, the neat thing is we get to see each other’s kids run multiple times per year,” he said. “The kids see each other on different courses and they have fun and are always cheering for each other.”