By Rich Winter

605 Sports

In each of the last two seasons, Spearfish’s Peyton VanDeest has run toe-to-toe with the best girls distance runners in South Dakota. 

Much improved in her freshman season, Van Deest is itching to cross the Missouri River this week and tangle with the Class AA runners from the other side of the state. 

“We don’t get to see the East River competition much during the year,” VanDeest said. “I think getting to run in Sioux Falls has me and the team excited, especially at the state meet.” 

VanDeest is having a breakout season, finishing second (17:47) behind O’Gorman’s LIbby Castelli (17:31) at the Nike Heartland Preview Meet on Sept. 9.  A week later Van Deest won the Clyde Cotton Invitational in Huron and on Sept. 22, she claimed the title at a very tough Rapid City Invitational (18:07).

VanDeest is a bit of a running prodigy. Her father, Andy, is the head cross-country coach for Spearfish and helped Lead-Deadwood to a Class A state cross-country title in 1998. Her mother Jamie was a standout distance runner for Spearfish in the late 1990s. Peyton’s parents met at Black Hills State so running came fairly naturally for the oldest Van Deest child. 

So naturally that mom’s mile and 2-mile records for Spearfish are long gone. 

“Peyton took a special interest in the running scene pretty early,” Andy VanDeest said. “She pays attention to not only South Dakota but big races and professional races. She finds joy in looking at results.” 

During each step of the season her Spearfish teammates kept on improving. The girls finished sixth at the Rapid City Invitational and then won the Black Hills Conference team title in early October, scoring 18 points, well ahead of Hill City (44) and Sturgis (48). 

“We’re just getting a good group of girls that like to work hard and push each other,” Andy VanDeest said. “We’ve got a good team camaraderie and we have been raising the bar the last couple of years.”

Coach VanDeest feels like additional strength and conditioning work has inched the Spartans a step closer to the AA elite.

“Our strength and conditioning coach does a super job of not pushing the kids too hard and working on strengthening the correct muscles that help with injury prevention,” VanDeest said.

At the Black Hills Conference meet, Van Deest’s teammates ran up front with their leader. Sophomore Kori Keil was third, junior Madie Donovan was fifth and freshman Sierra Stanford eighth. 

In 2021, Spearfish scored 200 points at the AA state meet to finish sixth. Last season the Spartans reduced their point total to 126, finishing sixth but just two points from Sioux Falls O’Gorman in fourth. 

After finishing sixth at the Class girls AA state cross-country meet in 2022 the Spearfish girls are looking for a higher podium finish at next week's state cross country meet.

VanDeest said she had goals this season of running a personal best and seeing team improvement. The 17:47 at the Nike meet was a personal best and the team finish is yet to be determined. 

“Our team is great and I love everyone on my team,” she said. “To see us do well at the state meet would be a big accomplishment.”

Coach Van Deest said the team is ready for the challenge. 

“Confidence is a big thing,” he said. “They know they can compete with the East River teams so it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.” 

The Class AA girls races start at 1 p.m. CST on Oct. 21 and will be run at the Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls.