XC season begins

The Eagles are off to the races. 

Chadron State’s cross-country team started its season Saturday morning at the Hardrocker Cross Country Classic meet at Robbinsdale Park in Rapid City, South Dakota. 

“We haven’t been able to go to that meet for a while because last year it was canceled,” Head Cross-Country Coach Luke Karamitros said. “It was really good for us to go back to a semi-familiar course because the athletes raced it the first year I took over the program here back in 2019 and things I could compare to.”

The women finished with 100 points in the 5k while the men finished with 108 in the 8k, both teams taking fourth of four teams. 

Newcomer Alissa Wieman, freshman of Box Elder, South Dakota, lead the Eagles in the women’s who finished 12th of 33 runners with a time of 20:34.65. Wieman ran the second-fastest time for a CSC athlete, which Chadron State has been competing in since 2017. 

Sydney Settles, junior of Lincoln, was not far behind Wieman in the 5k, timed at 21:06.05 and placing 16th. She ran about a minute and 10 seconds faster at the Robbinsdale course, than she had before. 

“Afterward, we were talking about how the execution is what lead her to run that time,” Karamitros said. “It’s also a testament to her work ethic. She put in a lot of work this summer to be able to run faster.” 

Garrett Avery, sophomore of Sheridan, Wyoming, led the men’s team for the Eagles with a 14th placed finish with a time of 27:21.78. Like Wieman, Avery ran the second-fastest time for an Eagle on the men’s team. 

Noah Burtis, sophomore of Berthoud, Colorado, was the next Eagle to finish with a time of 27:41.21 which placed him 19th of 40. 

Audrey Ginnan, freshman of Burlington, Colorado, set her career best at 22:40.46 by dropping nearly 10 seconds off her time, allowing her to finish 27th. 

“It’s good to be back, for sure.” Grinnan said. “This was definitely a harder course, but I don’t know that it was too hard. Obviously, I didn’t die.” 

Cale Schafer, freshman of LaSalle, Colorado, and Joaquin Venzor, freshman of Greely, Colorado, both set personal bests. Schafer set his best to 28:00.55, placing 25th and Venzor finished with a time of 28:42.52 to take 32nd.  

The other two women runners, Morgan Jaggers, freshman of Sidney, placed 29th at 23:56.46 and Kassyl Swinney, freshman of Gordon, finished 30th at 24:46.08. 

“It was good. It was actually my first cross-country meet ever,” Jaggers said. “It was definitely intimidating, but it was good.” 

Three other Eagles finished above the final ten racers, Logan Moravec, sophomore of Gering, finished 27th at 28:02.62; Blaine Johnson, freshman of Sheridan, Wyoming, placed 29th with a time of 28:11.62; Logan Andrews, freshman of Gering, took 30th at 28:27.78. 

For the meet, Carleton College of Northfield, Minnesota, took first for the women’s team with 31 points while for the men’s Black Hills State University finished on top with 37 points. 

“The course that we ran on was a little bit more deceptive and challenging than what people usually think,” Karamitros said. “People are just excited to get out racing. Because of that, they (runners) got out a little bit too hard. It’s really important to pace yourself evenly because if you don’t pace yourself evenly, you spend too much energy at the start or middle of the race, sometimes you pay for it in the end.” 

CSC will host the Chadron High School meet, Sept. 11, but they will not compete until, Friday, Sept. 17 at the Gage McSpadden Memorial Meet in Spearfish, South Dakota, hosted by Black Hills State University. 

“The fact that some of these individuals exceeded my initial impressions was really awesome to see as a coach,” Karamitros said. “I’m really pleased with our first showing. It’s a shoe step in the right direction. We got to see that the local competition between South Dakota Mines and Black Hills, that we’re all here ready to get after it.”