HURON – Aberdeen Central had a pair of runners finish near the top at the Clyde Cotton Invitational Cross Country Meet on Saturday morning.
Tate DeVries came in second in the boys’ race, while Allie Novstrup took fourth in the girls’ event.
Cole Reilly of Sioux Falls Washington topped the field in the boys’ race, clocking a time of 15:38.63. DeVries was runner-up in a time of 15:48.46.
Peyton VanDeest of Spearfish was first to cross the finish line in the girls’ race in a time of 18:16.54. Novstrup was fourth coming in at 19:17.97.
Central coach Eric Pedersen was pleased with those top performances.
“Great races across the board had Allie coming in fourth. That was a solid effort from her today She was in about seventh for a lot of the race and she started to close the gap on the back half, really smart race,” Pedersen said. “Tate led the race for a lot of the boys’ race too. It was pretty much him and the Washington kid the entire way. That was a good challenge for him to race with him.”
The Golden Eagles were fourth in girls’ team points.
Other top boys’ finishers were Central’s Max Nelson at 13th, and Sisseton’s Ryder Graff at 19th.
“Max Nelson ran about the exact same time as he did at Twilight,” Pedersen said, “which is good this time of year, because that tells me he is getting stronger on a tougher course. He did a great job today.”
Other girls’ runners included Central’s Khloe Cochran (27th), Evie Novstrup (30th), and Grace Preszler (32nd).
“Nice to see the girls push the pace a bit too with Evie and Grace getting up there a bit,” Pedersen said. “Need to round out the boys’ team and I think we have that with Max Willen running a good race.”
Pedersen was pleased with the performances of the Golden Eagles as they inch closer to the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet and state meet next month.
“This Huron meet is great, because everyone runs a 5K,” Pedersen said, “so you can start to see where some of those pieces fit together as we get closer to ESD and the state meet.”
To see complete meet results, click on the following link:
