By 605 Sports Staff

SIOUX FALLS — The two-time defending Class A state champion Sioux Falls Christian girls cross-country team absolutely lit up last week’s Augie Twilight Meet. 

Four Sioux Falls Christian girls finished in the top-nine as the Chargers easily claimed the team title. On Saturday morning the website, www.athletic.net had the Charger girls ranked as the No. 2 high school team in the nation. 

2021 Class A state champion Ellie Maddox cranked out a personal best (17:26.10) on her way to a third-place finish. That time sets a school record for the fastest 5,000-meter run by a Sioux Falls Christian girl. 

Freshman Sadie Pettengill finished fourth (17:28), junior Natalie Smith was sixth (17:52) and junior Jerica Glasser was ninth (18:08). The top three Charger girls all ran under the former school record (18:02) held by 2023 Class A state champion Corrine Braun. 

The Sioux Falls Christian girls are overwhelming favorites to claim a third consecutive team championship in October. The run on championships may only be just getting started.

Eighth-grader Bryn Barker finished third in the junior varsity race, breaking Sadie Pettengill’s Sioux Falls Christian girls 4,000-meter course record by 64 seconds. Seventh-grader Maxine Ordway, running in her first ever 4,000-meter race finished sixth in the junior varsity race at the Augie Twilight meet.

Following the Augie Twilight meet the Harrisburg girls were ranked as the fourth best team in the nation. 

Since that race both teams have fallen out of the top-ten.