BV packs punch at RC Invite
By:
Jill Meier, Journal editor
Submitted photo
The Lynx cross country teams tore it up at the Rapid City Invite on Friday.
Mia Wentzy and Britton Elkin have new T-shirts. And a handful of Lynx runners do, too.
Brandon Valley’s usual frontrunners led their respective teammates across the finish line at Friday’s Rapid City Invite, guiding the Lynx girls to a first-place team finish and the boys to a third-place finish.
“On the way out, we told the girls that they don’t give medals at this one, but they give T-shirts to the top 20 and it would be fun to get five of them,” said Lynx head coach Tony Thoreson. “And by God, we sure did.”
Wentzy’s run of 19:05.4 and Elkin’s 16:27.5 time landed both runners in second place in their respective races.
Complimenting Wentzy’s second-place run was seventh-grader Addison Scholten’s run of 19:52.9 and Gracyn Gruber’s fifth-place effort of 20:06.3. Sarah VanDeBerg clocked in at 20:22.1 and Kylie Foss paraded across the line at 20:39.2. VanDeBerg was 11th and Foss was 18th.
Two Lynx boys also placed in the top 20. Jeremiah Donahoe covered the course in 17:36.2 for 16th place and BenVanDeBerg registered a time of 17:43.2 to land 20th.
Rapid City Stevens finished second to the Lynx girls and positioned themselves for second-place in the varsity boys’ race as well.
“We knew the Stevens teams would be good going in,” Thoreson said, “and even though they’re not in ourAA group, the Hill City girls are a pretty formidable team.”
The RC Invite also featured a number of quality runners from programs with incomplete teams, which Thoreson deemed as a positive.
“This meet has some pretty good runners, so it was a good race to get into,” he said.
With the Watertown Invite cancelled for COVID-related reasons, the Lynx will compete in the Sioux Falls Roosevelt Invite, which steps off at 2 p.m. Thursday at Yankton Trails Park in Sioux Falls. The meet will feature a plethora of teams, which includes all of the Sioux Falls programs and a large chunk of teams from the ESD Conference.
“It’s a big field on a fast course,” said Thoreson who’s “on the fence” for this invite.
“It makes it a little difficult because there is some work you want to do in practice,” he said. “Either way, we’ll get some racing in against teams.”
BV closes out their 2020 season with a pair of conference meets, the first, the ESD championships at Aberdeen on Saturday, Oct. 10, and the Metro on Thursday, Oct. 15. The latter will be run on the always-challenging McHardy Park course in Brandon, starting at 3 p.m. The state meet is slated for Saturday, Oct. 24 at Rapid City.
Rapid City Invite
Varsity girls’ team scores: 1.) Brandon Valley 31; 2.) RC Stevens 62; 3.) Hill City 63; 4.) SF Christian 81; 5.) St. Thomas More 163; 6.) Scottsbluff 164; 7.) Sturgis Brown 171; 8.) RC Central 212.
Varsity Lady Lynx results: 2.) Mia Wentzy 19:05.4; 3.) Addison Scholten 19:52.9; 5.) Gracyn Gruber 20:06.3; 11.) Sarah VanDeBerg 20:22.1; 18.) Kylie Foss 20:39.2; 32.) Chantel Bickler 21:33.7; 36.) Haley Bergan 21;47.3; 54.) Hannah Sprecher 22:27.7; 64.) Madison Pederson 22:51.7; 68.) Natalie Moose 23:04.5.
Varsity boys’ team scores: 1.) SF Christian 36; 2.) RC Stevens 51; 3.) Brandon Valley 79; 4.) Sturgis Brown 140; 5.) Custer 147; 6.) Scottsbluff 178; 7.) Pierre T.F. Riggs 182; 8.) St. Thomas More 192; 9.) Douglas 240; 10.) Winner Area 253; 11.) RC Central 277.
Varsity Lynx boys; results: 2.) Britton Elkin 16:27.5; 16.) Jeremiah Donahoe 17:36.2; 20.) Ben VanDeBerg 17:43.2; 27.) Cole Borchardt 18;00.7; 33.) Paul Kern 18:14.5; 41.) Riley Peyton 18:26.7; 49.) Tyler Groen 18:45.4; 51.) Mikah Peters 18:45.9; 62.) Gabe Anthony 19:09.1; 68.) Dakota Dutson 19:22.9; 71.) Aaron House 19:32.9.
