By Matt Gade

605 Sports

HURON — A year after a disappointing finish at the Class AA state cross country meet, Brandon Valley’s Mikah Peters is back on top.

The Lynx senior capped off his senior campaign with the Class AA title in the boys’ race with a time of 14:54.09, defeating Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Miles Lechtenberg time of 15:02.03.

“Going into this week, after last year, not taking the win, going into this race, I couldn't have been more motivated,” Peters said. “This kept me up at night, like just thinking about this race and really executing it the way that I wanted to today was huge for me.”

Peters said the competition between him and Lechtenberg is a friendly rivalry.

“Miles (Lechtenberg) is a great kid,” Peters said. “He's from Lincoln, obviously, kind of like a rival school, but at the same time, we're friends. We meet up on runs in Sioux Falls sometimes. And I think that the rivalry in cross country is a lot more different than in other sports, because there's a sense of respect for each other.”

Peters said he especially enjoys the course at the Broadland Creek Golf Course in Huron and wanted to best the now Oregon cross country runner Simeon Birnbaum, formerly of Rapid City Stevens, time of 15:16.19 set in 2022 at this course.

“This course is what a true cross country runner will run, you know, all those flat courses like Yankton Trails and stuff, anybody can win that. But on this course, you gotta have some grit,” he said. “So my goal was to break 15:16, because I think that's what Simeon (Birnbaum) ran his senior year on this course. So breaking 15 on this course is pretty special.”

Peters said he plans on running at the collegiate level, but hasn’t decided as to where yet.

The senior said he’s narrowed down his choices to three schools and hopes to make a decision fairly soon.

As for his final SDHSAA state cross country meet, Peters said he’s going to miss his teammates and running group the most.

“In high school, that team aspect is with you, your entire school career. And I think that just growing up together is huge,” Peters said. “Jumping to that college level, it's like you're in a new territory, and it's a different jump of competition.”

Peters plans on competing at the Nike Cross Regional Championships later this year and wants to leave a mark on the national stage.

“I think the only way to go out better as a senior is to get on that national stage and do something special there. So that's my plan.”