Photo: The Athletic
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Area runners put on a strong showing Saturday at the 2026 State Cross Country Meet held at Hart Ranch just outside of Rapid City, led by top-10 finishes from Watertown and area athletes.
In Class AA, the Watertown girls claimed a sixth-place team finish behind a 10th-place performance from Grace McElroy, who posted a time of 18:26.6. Lilly Gerlach finished 21st in 19:11.3, while teammate Olivia Anderson took 27th with a time of 19:20.4. Also competing for the Arrow girls were Kate McElroy (34th, 19:35.4), Grace List (64th, 20:48.8), Addison Reichling (67th, 20:52.3), and Jayda Jensen (78th, 21:17.4).
The Watertown boys placed 17th as a team, highlighted by Dane Stark’s stellar seventh-place individual performance in 15:33.3. Logan Becker placed 87th in 17:50.9, Channing DeBoer finished 95th in 18:01.7, Evan Mack took 97th in 18:08.0, Kaiser Lunde finished 108th in 18:34.4, Zayne Hartwig placed 115th in 19:07.0, and Grady Lindgren crossed 120th in 19:22.9 to round out the lineup for the Arrows.
Class A Girls
Florence/Henry’s Sierra Keller paced the local Class A competitors with a sixth-place podium finish, stopping the clock at 19:11.2. Teammate Melanie Bach took 33rd with a time of 20:20.5.
Kamryn Nesheim led Clark/Willow Lake with a 26th-place finish in 20:06.5, while Johanna Vandersnick took 83rd in 21:39.9. Deuel’s Shyla Tvedt secured a 28th-place result, crossing the line in 20:12.5.
Class A Boys
Deuel secured seventh place in the team standings, led by Sutton Benck’s 22nd-place finish in 16:39.6. Caden Hourigan finished 49th (17:43.1), Tyson Hagberg took 51st (17:46.9), Gavin Mattson was 56th (17:52.8), Malachi Peterson finished 84th (18:29.4), and Dominic Kluckman took 87th (18:35.8).
Great Plains Lutheran’s Sam Manian earned a 50th-place finish with a time of 17:45.9. Florence/Henry’s Austin Keller placed 31st with a time of 17:13.0. Clark/Willow Lake was represented by Ethan Zemlicka in 115th (19:33.6) and Aksel Gjerde in 121st (20:11.2).
Class B Boys
Castlewood’s Nolan Eidson delivered a standout performance in Class B, taking fifth place with a time of 16:40.2. Teammate Leo Taken Care Of crossed the finish line in 73rd place with a time of 18:53.8.
