MELLETTE – The Boekelheide name is virtually synonymous with Northwestern cross country.

So it’s only fitting that Derek Boekelheide has come full circle, from coach’s son, to budding young talent, to senior leader and, now, assistant coach.

Boekelheide, who continued his running career at South Dakota State under head coach and former Olympian Rod DeHaven after wrapping up his time at Northwestern, returned to his Wildcat roots this fall, coming on as an assistant coach alongside his mother, head coach Kris Boekelheide.

And it couldn’t come at a better time.

“We have the great problem of having too many runners,” Derek said. “It’s a lot for one person to be coaching sixth graders all the way through the defending state champ (who happens to be his younger sister, Ella). … It worked out that I just finished college and came home.”

Boekelheide didn’t come back specifically to coach. Instead, he returned to the family farm. Coaching just sort of fell in his lap.

“I never consciously planned it,” he said. “But looking back, it was probably always going to happen at some point. Even when I was running at SDSU, my mom would ask me questions. I’ve been giving her my opinions on stuff for a while now.”

Farmers, historically, can put in long hours and long days, particularly as fall harvest is in full swing. Boekelheide’s days can be even longer, as he slides practice into the early portions of the mornings and workout detailing into the waning hours of the night.

“It makes for some late nights,” he said, “but I enjoy doing it.”

Boekelheide said he’s not in charge of a specific group of runners any more than his mom is. Rather, it’s a collaborative, collective effort that taps into each person’s strength.

“I spend more time designing workouts and structuring training for the week,” he said. “She deals with more of the individual runners and injuries and specifics like that.”

Derek has a wealth of experience to draw on to create those workouts, and he enjoys incorporating everything he’s learned into those practice plans.

“Even looking back when I was in high school, we didn’t have a track to train on,” he said. “So I was exposed to more of the blue-collar style of running. On the road in front of the school, run to that stop sign, sprint to that house and back.”

That all changed at SDSU under DeHaven’s tutelage, where Boekelheide clocked an outdoor 800 PR of 1:52 and change.

“I’ve been exposed to a high level of running for quite a while now,” he said. “Just being in a program that’s that well run, I’ve tried to carry that stuff into what we’re doing here.”

The payoff, he said, comes when the younger runners find the same joy he did in running.

“Probably my favorite part of coaching so far is when we sent some younger kids out on the longest run of their lives,” he said. “Carson Ewalt (freshman) came back from his run and he was beaming. Just smiling ear to ear, and he said, ‘That was such a fun run.’ I love to see that. I’ve always loved running like that. A lot of people see running as a punishment. It was nice to see someone see the joy in it.”

The Wildcats are gearing up for the Region 1B meet this week in Webster and, beyond that, the state meet in Huron.

“It’s looking like we’ll have some people in contention,” he said. “But it’s no sure thing. It’s a good motivator. We have to do things right.”