Lexi Schoenfelder and Peter Backes competed in the State Cross Country Meet last Saturday, October 24 at the Hart Ranch Resort by Rapid City. Isabella Brouwer also qualified for the Andes Central/Dakota Christian runners, but was unable to compete due to a hip injury. Lexi placed 49th in the field of 120 Class B girl runners with a time of 22:10 while Peter came in at 98th out of the 124 boy runners. Peter’s time was 20:47.

Hallie Person from Burke was the overall winner in the Class B Girls race (19:24) capping a perfect season for her in which she won every race she ran. Warner’s Cody Larson topped in the boys’ field with an impressive 15:54 time on a snowy and slippery 5K course. Kimball/White Lake was the overall team champions for the girls and Bison beat Freeman Academy/Marion for the boys’ title.

Coach Larry Lucas said, “We had a great season and accomplished a lot while dealing with COVID precautions and more injury problems than in past years. I am extremely proud of everyone on how they conducted themselves as athletes and the amount of distance running work they put in. Cross Country is an exciting sport and I encourage others that may be thinking of it to give it a try."