Boy runners second in conference

The Custer High School Wildcat cross country team competed in the Black Hills Conference in Sturgis last Thursday with the boys coming away with second place and the girls placing sixth.
Senior Sean Shipp placed second in the meet behind Hill City’s Tate Grabow. Shipp finished the 5K race in 16:28.44.
“I think Sean had a very good race. Tate is a very good runner. He’s probably one of the top runners in class A,” said head coach Karen Karim.
Austin Drew finished in 10th place with a time of 17:51.84.
Peyton Krueger and Kian Rusch finished 14th and 15th, respectively. Krueger finished with a time of 18:17.57, and Rusch wasn’t far behind, crossing the finish line in 18:22.85.
In 22nd place was Zane Gunnell, who finished in 18:34.77. Zachary Cooper came in 27th place with a time of 19:04.15.
The team’s combined efforts gave the boys a score of 41, behind Sturgis with 34. They came in ahead of Spearfish with 44 and ahead of Hill City with 73.
“Those boys getting second was a good race for them. Sturgis is a really good team, and Spearfish probably halfway through the race had us, but they came back, competed well and finished tough,” said  Karim.
On the girls team, Kiera Alfson was the top racer for the team. Alfson came in 19th with a time of 22:35.94.
Mikayla Dennis was the next Wildcat to cross the finish line, coming in at 23:22.22, good for 23rd place.
In 27th place was Makenzi Ham, who finished the race in 23:47.55. Maya Tennyson was up next, earning 29th with a time of 23:59.31. Lexi Wilkins finished 33rd with a time of 24:57.94.
Ava Miller rounded out the girls lineup, crossing the finish line in 38th place with a time of 26:02.13.
Altogether, the girls mustered a score of 95 to place sixth as a team, ahead of St. Thomas More with 114 and Rapid City Christian with 134. Spearfish was the winning team with 21 points.
“The girls were about where I expected them to be. They would have been the third class A team, and we need to be in the top three [in the region] to go to state, so that’s my hope for those girls,” said Karim.
As both teams head into the Region meet at Hart Ranch, they will need to be “clicking on all cylinders [this] week,” said Karim. To qualify for state, runners will have to break into the top 20 places individually or place in the top three as a team.
“I would hope our boys are pretty solid. For the girls it will be paramount to be in the top three teams,” said Karim.
“They (the girls team) all have that ability... so we just want to feel good at the right time. They could have a challenge from St. Thomas More, so they’ll have to step up,” said Karim.