Girls take third at Rapid City Invitational

Custer’s varsity girls cross country team ran to a third place finish at the Class AA Rapid City Invite on Saturday, finishing first among all Class A schools at the meet. 

Rapid City Stevens won the meet with a score of 80, followed by Sheridan, Wyo., with a team score of 98. Custer had a team score of 123 for its third place finish. 

The Wildcats were led by senior Kadense Dooley who ran the relatively flat Hart Ranch course in 18:53.78 to finish sixth. Close on her heels was junior Ramsey Karim coming in seventh in a time of 18:56.39.  Senior Eva Studt crossed the finish line in 15th place with her time of 19:31.57. 

“Having our top three girls in the top 15 is pretty significant,” remarked coach Karen Karim, noting that her runners kept pace with Class AA Stevens, which she said is a great team. “Eva, my third runner, beat their third runner. That was a really good race for all three of them.”

Dooley and Karim also finished the race ahead of Hill City speedster Abby Cutler. 

“I was pleased with how they competed,” said Karim, noting all the runners set PRs. “We’re heading in the right direction, that’s for sure.”

Sophomore Brit Wheeler came in 45th with her time of 21:02.97 and seventh grader Mattea Marshall, running in her first varsity race, had a time of 21:56.71 for 76th place. 

Karim said Marshall, who was her fifth runner, was a scorer because it was a Class AA meet.

“She really stepped up,” remarked Karim. “She looked pretty strong in the race. She will have a little more experience by the time the state meet rolls around and we’ll see how much she can actually help us by then. I expect her to just keep improving as she gets experience.”

The sixth runner for Custer was Sierra Swanson who finished 115th in a time of 23:37.14.

Meanwhile, Custer’s varsity boys did not qualify for team scoring because only four runners were entered in the 5K.  

The frontrunner for the Wildcats was senior Miles Ellman who just qualified for a medal by finishing 19th in a time 16:59.41. 

“Miles ran pretty well,” noted Karim. “I think that was one of his faster times.”

She said the same was true of fellow senior Preston Drew who finished 44th in 17:39.88. 

Gage Grohs was the next runner to cross the line for Custer. The junior placed 54th with a time of 17:50.66. 

Karim said this was more of a training race for Grohs who was a frontrunner for the Wildcats earlier in the season, but has been out for almost two weeks due to illness and a blister that kept him off his foot for a couple of days. 

Drew Lehman was the fourth runner for Custer, crossing the finish line in a time of 18:06.87 for 71st place. Karim said it was the sophomore’s fastest time of the season.

Karim said the reason she didn’t enter five in the varsity race is because she decided to let the boys who are competing for a varsity spot race each other in the JV division. 

In that race, Karim said Jackson Drew stepped up and had his best race of the season, finishing 21st, just missing the awards given to the top 20.  

“I do think a lot of my junior varsity kids have run their best times of the year as well,” said Karim. “That was a plus for us.” 

The coach said she hopes the success will be a confidence builder heading into the final weeks of the season.

“We’re heading down the stretch,” commented Karim, noting the team travels to a hilly Sturgis course Thursday, which will be the last time to run against bigger schools like Stevens. After that, it’s on to the Black Hills Conference meet, regions and then the state meet scheduled for Sioux Falls Oct. 23.  

While things look positive for her team after Friday’s performance, Karim said she doesn’t want to get “over excited.”

“We still need to take one meet at a time, get our workouts in and stay healthy,” she concluded.