The Andes Central/Dakota Christian Thunder Cross Country team is state bound after all runners qualified for the State Meet last Wednesday, October 12, in Burke. Everyone finished in the top twenty at the Region Meet and the Girls Team of Anna DeHaan, Lexi Schoenfeilder, and Eilie DeHaan tied with Gregory for the Regional Runner up team with 26 points. Burke won the girls title with 23 points while Freeman Academy/Marion was the boy’s team winner.

Place scores for the Thunder runners were Anna 5th (22:13), Lexi 10th (23:08), and Eilie 11th (23:19). Tony Hansum ran a strong race in the very high winds to finish 13th (20:03) in Boys Race.

Individually Jada Koerner from Freeman Academy/Marion won the girls race in 20:53 and Josiah Schroeder from Canistota won the boys race in 17:23.

“Everyone gave it their all to qualify for State, commented Coach Larry Lucas. Our team goal was to qualify everyone for State and we achieved that. We still have more work to do as prepare to run in the ‘Big Race’ on Saturday. I encourage anyone that can to come and cheer on all of the runners competing at State Meet on Saturday. There are 6 races, three each for boys and girls in the three Divisions - B, A, and AA.”

The State Meet is this Saturday, October 22, at the Broadland Creek National Golf Course in Huron. Start time for the Girls Class B Race is 1:00 PM while the Class B Boys Race is at 2:30 PM.