Spearfish High School’s Peyton VanDeest was selected as the Gatorade South Dakota girls cross-country runner of the year. 

The award recognizes VanDeest as South Dakota’s best high school girls cross-country athlete. The 5-foot-11 junior earned first-team all-region honors this past season by taking second at the Nike Cross Heartland Regional Championships with a time of 17:04.3. 

VanDeest followed that effort by finishing 37th at Nike Cross Nationals. She also finished second at the Class AA state meet, leading the Spartans to a sixth-place finish as a team and she concluded the season ranked No. 19 in the national MileSplit50. 

A member of her local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, VanDeest has donated her time to the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, a collection of volunteers appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of children and youth who have experienced abuse or neglect. She has also served on behalf of the Special Olympics. VanDeest has maintained a 3.92 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school this fall.