Aberdeen Central nips Lady Lynx at Watertown Invite finish line

For the second consecutive race, the Lady Lynx ran step for step against Aberdeen Central, and for the second week in a row, the Brandon Valley girls came up short on the tiebreaker. This time the ESD Conference powers went head to head – both posting a team tally of 51 – at the Watertown Invitational, which was run Sept. 28 at Watertown’s Cattail Crossing Golf Course.

“We are so close to their girls, with only a few seconds separating us from taking them down,” Lynx head coach Larry Beesley said. 

A trio of Lady Lynx collected a piece of hardware from the invite. BV senior Haylee Waterfall’s third-place run of 20:01 led the pack. Teammate Allison Rief was right on her heels, crossing the finish line at 20:09 for fourth place. Lauren Wells was ninth, posting a time of 20:30.

Kylie Foss (16th, 20:50) and Katie Wentzy (19th, 21:01) just missed out on the medals.

“Our one through five gap was at one minute exactly, which is very good, and it’s hard to put kids between us when we are that tightly grouped,” Beesley said. 

The coach was also excited by the race techniques of the next pack of Lady Lynx – Natalie Moose (32nd, 21:27), Megan Pickering (34th, 21:32) and Mikaela Birath (37th, 21:47). 

“If this pack moves up a few spots in the ESD meet, we are very strong and can get past the tie,” he said. 

Britton Elkin and Eli Cheever guided the Lynx boys to fifth place. Elkin paced himself to an 11th place finish, stepping across the line at 17:24. Cheever’s run of 17:53 landed him in 20th place.

“Britton had a solid race,” Beesley said. “It’s hard to remember he is just a freshman running his first year of varsity cross country.”

Cheever, he added, is running at his best at this point of the season, closing the gap on the team’s frontrunner.

“Both of these are certainly in the mix for all-conference on Saturday,” the coach predicts. “Right behind them are Zach (Hentschel) and Thomas (Redford). They have a chance to grab a medal at the ESD meet also.”

Hentschel and Redford claimed 31st and 34th, respectively.

“Our one through five gap hit two minutes, which means a lot of people can squeeze in between our runners and push our point total higher. But this team has grown throughout year and when your sophomore class has the most varsity experience, you need to continue to grow, and these guys have indeed done that,” Beesley said. 

Ava Caron was the lone Lady Lynx JV runner to garner a medal. She claimed 10th place with her 19:09 effort, guiding the JV girls to seventh place.

“The girls certainly ran one of their better races as a group,” Beesley said. “We hope to surprise some on Saturday with running the same course two weeks straight. 

Similar the JV girls, the Lynx JV boys also posted their best race times to date. Blake Thompson ran the 4,000-meter course in 15:43 for 21st place, guiding the team to a fifth-place finish.

“We had a plan to run in control and then use our training base to run the back half of the race stronger, and this group can certainly surprise a few people on Saturday,” the coach predicts.

As the Lynx harriers head into their final three events of the season – the ESD and Metro conference championships and the state meet – they’re using Saturday’s invite as a measuring stick. 

“This was a good preview of this week’s ESD Conference, as eight of the nine ESD schools were there and four of the five Metro Conference schools were present. This certainly gives us a solid idea where we stand in the conferences,” he said.

The Lynx harriers return to Watertown Saturday to compete for their respective ESD Conference titles. Races begin at 11 a.m. 

Watertown Invitational

Varsity girls’ team scores: 1.) Aberdeen Central 51, 2.) Brandon Valley 51, 3.) SF Washington 99, 4.) SF O’Gorman 121, 5.) Pierre 138, 6.) SF Roosevelt 153, 7.) Brookings 186, 8.) Harrisburg 190, 9.) Watertown 224, 10.) Huron 257, 11.) Mitchell 306.

Lady Lynx results (83 runners, 5,000 meters): 3.) Haylee Waterfall, 20:01; 4.) Allison Rief, 20:09; 9.) Lauren Wells, 20:30; 16.) Kylie Foss, 20:50; 19.) Katie Wentzy, 21:01; 32.) Natalie Moose 21:27; 34.) Megan Pickering 21:32; 37.) Mikaela Birath 21:47; 49.) Hannah Sprecher 22:13; 61.) Caitlyn Hanson 22:59.

Varsity boys’ team scores: 1.) SF Washington 28, 2.) Aberdeen Central 67, 3.) SF Roosevelt 85, 4.) SF O’Gorman 98, 5.) Brandon Valley 129, 6.) Harrisburg 140, 7.) Pierre 201, 8.) Watertown 220.

Lynx boys’ results (5,000 meters, 86 runners): 11.) Britton Elkin, 17:24; 20.) Eli Cheever, 17:53; 31.) Zach Hentschel 18:06; 34.) Thomas Redford 18:09; 59.) Colter Elkin 19:23; 68.) Caleb Klatt 19:44; 69.) Jace Christoffer 19:46; 70.) Josef Zahn 20:01; 71.) Dustin Groen 20:08; 73.) Luke Kocer 20:12.

Lady Lynx JV results (69 runners, 4,000 meters, 7th place team): 10.) Ava Caron 19:09; 37.) Lexy Hamner 20:27; 55.) Shianne Dutson 21:12; 63.) Mackenzie Hochhalter 22:03; 67.) Kelsey Frost 23:52.

Lynx boys’ JV results (78 runners, 4,000 meters, 5th place team): 21.) Blake Thompson 15:43; 29.) Josh Lee 16:06; 30.) Quinn Gienapp 16:11; 40.) Jack Scholten 16:46; 44.) Aaron House 17:09; 45.) Caleb Zerr 17:11; 51.) Kyle Heidbrink 17:28; 59.) Kolten Eszlinger 17:57; 71.) Brian Wynia 19:09; 72.) Darrell Terwilliger 19:11; 73.) Marshall Elkin 19:14; 74.) Grant Gunderson 19:37.