It was a crazy, windy day as the Wagner Cross Country Team stepped onto the running course in Elk Point on Thursday, September 17th. This was the Region Race for The Raiders which is Region 3A. It is a tough region and it showed to be a challenge to The Wagner Cross Country members. Only the top 20 finishers get to move onto state.

Wagner had four boys compete in the Varsity Race; Jackson Rolston, Grady Bartunek, Cooper Slaba, and Alex Reiter. Coming into the finish line in 23rd place with a 19:01:34, was Grady Bartunek. He gave it his all but was just three places away from qualifying for state. He had a great race as 19:01 on such a windy day is an outstanding race. Coming in at 42nd place was Jackson Rolston with a 20:22, shortly followed by Cooper Slaba in 44th place with a 20:43 -both having fantastic races. We are proud to say we have a young man who ran his first varsity race; that would be Alex Reiter. He pushed hard and had a great first 5K race coming in 55th with a time of 22:14.21.

The Varsity Girl’s Race was next. Wagner had three runners in this 5K: Presley Slaba, Lydia Yost, and Taya Stone. Our two Seniors have run a great race all year long and didn’t disappoint in their final race of the season. Presley Slaba took on this windy 5K just like any other race and pushed herself from the middle of the pack. She had a wonderful race and came in 24th place, just short of the top 20 with a 22:21.70. Lydia Yost took on this race and came through the finish line with a 24:39.61. We had one Freshman on our team this year; Taya Stone. She has been a great example to her younger teammates by showing them how to run through injuries, and know when to rest and also, when to push through. She came in with a 23:10.29.

Wagner had two Junior Varsity Runners running the 4K race; this was Braelyn Jones running in the girl’s division and K’drian Weddell in the boy’s division. Both of these athletes started out the season running in the Middle School Races and have worked hard to earn their spot in Junior Varsity. K’drian Weddell came in with a 20:35.28. Braelyn Jones came in with a 19:24.11, She came in 13th, just falling short of the top 10 finishers-the race gave medals to the top 10.

Mr. Belling and I are more than proud of this wonderful group of kids this year. It has been a great season and it has been wonderful having so many new runners along with our veteran runners showing them the way of running. It is always sad to see a season end, especially when the kids were so close to making it to state. However, it was a great way to end a season. Thank you to all of our runners and parents for your help and support.