HURON – Aberdeen Central captured the individual championship as well as the team title in the boys’ division during the Clyde Cotton Invitational Cross Country Meet Saturday morning at Broadland Creek Golf Course.
Carson Urlacher led three Golden Eagles among the top 10 finishers by winning the race in a time of 16:04.46. Teammates Esten Foss and Max Nelson were eighth and 10th, respectively.
The Golden Eagles finished with 52 team points, 11 better than runner-up Brandon Valley.
“The boys had a good day in Huron,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “There are a lot of big meets going on in other locations today, so I’m glad our boys showed up ready to compete today.”
Urlacher was coming off a win at the Sahli-Salmi the week before in Aberdeen.
“Carson Urlacher ran well, continuing his leadership for us at the front of the pack,” Murley said. “Max Nelson continues to be a solid work-horse for us. It is always nice to run on the future state meet course.”
The Central girls finished sixth as a team led by Allie Novstrup, who came in sixth in a time of 19:24.86.
“It was good to get out there and get a glimpse of the course,” said Central girls’ coach Eric Pedersen of the upcoming state meet course. “Plus, we got some decent ESD competition with most of those schools being there.”
Novstrup continues to build on a solid season for the Golden Eagles.
“Allie kind of did her thing again and got out well to run with some solid competition,” Pedersen said, “so she’s really adding to a fantastic freshman season.”
Evie Novstrup and Khloe Cochran finished 42nd and 43rd, respectively for Central, allowing the Golden Eagles to edge Watertown in the team standings.
“I really liked how Evie and Khloe raced as well,” Pedersen said. “They were together most of the race and consistently worked their way up the entire time to help us get some spots we needed to stay in front of Watertown for team points.”
Pedersen said the girls have to work on a few things before some of the biggest upcoming meets of the season, like the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet next month.
“We knew we have some work to do before ESD,” Pedersen said, “but their positivity and level heads are definitely helping this season progress nicely.”
The Golden Eagles will head to a meet in Grand Forks, N.D., next weekend to face some different competition.
“We’ve got a busy week ahead with homecoming, so we will need to stay focused on our training and our goals,” Murley said. “We are excited to check out the Border Battle in Grand Forks next weekend and see how we are sitting in comparison to some new competition.”
To see complete meet results, click on the following link:
