Yankton, Sioux Falls Roosevelt Trade
Team and Individual 1-2 Finishes

New: Girls AA Recap - Boys AA Recap

US#3/HL#1 Yankton girls top US#4/HL#2 SFR, 33-55, in Heartland showdown. Roosevelt's Allison Eckert over Yankton's Betsy Bies in record 14:23-14:28 (4k), despite heavy winds. Same teams 1-2 for boys, with SFR's Bill Kogel 15:26 (5k).

Results - AA Girls - AA Boys (more to come) Lead Story
Class A Results - Class B Results

SFR's Allison Eckert was the top individual performer of the day. Yankton's boys and girls both won AA team titles. Photos by James D. Cimburek, Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. Photos to be on spotted.yankton.net

By Steve Underwood

HURON, South Dakota --- Not long after their teams’ clash of the titans in the South Dakota State Meet AA Girls race – which US#3/HL#1 Yankton won over US#4/HL#2 Sioux Falls Roosevelt, 33-55 – an interesting thing happened for the schools’ coaches, families, and fans: A bunch of boys added some perspective.

Those would be Buck and Rough Rider boys. In the final meet of the day, the male counterparts of the national powerhouse girls teams waged just as stirring a battle for the team and individual titles and the girls did, even though no regional or national rankings were on the line. It was obvious that Coach Dan Fitzsimmons and Coach Kristi Rieger were every bit as thrilled with and proud of their boys as their girls, especially since the boys team and individual battles were considered wide-open affairs.

Everyone was reminded that despite the lofty rankings of the SFR and Yankton girls, that the competition at Broadland Golf Course in Huron Saturday was, above all, a STATE meet and that state pride runs deep.

Not to knock, of course, the incredible performances of the girls. Despite 40-degree temps and brutal winds, the intensity of the competition produced a wholesale rewriting of the record book for the 4k course. Leading the way was unbeaten Rough Rider sr Allison Eckert who used her 400/800 track speed and better-than-ever fitness to overcome Gazelle sr and rival Betsy Bies in the final 400. Her 14:23 led Bies (14:28) and Sturgis sr standout Jessica Engel (14:44) past the former 15:01 mark of Yankton all-time great Ramsey Kavan. SFR sr Krista Eckert just missed it with her 15:08 in fourth.

From that point on, however, the Gazelles took firm hold of the race. A courageous effort by freshman Mariah Hofer in the face of a possible fracture of her foot netted a career best 15:19 in 5th. She was followed closely by Yankton seniors Tiffany Leader and Emily Smith in 7th and 8th (15:22 and 15:26). Thirteen seconds and three spots later Kristen Sternhagen closed the deal with her 15:39 in 11th.

The Rough Riders’ 3-4-5 followed with jr Caitlin Crowley (13th-15:56), soph Erin Hargens (17th-16:02), and fr Bailey Breems (20th-16:03). Yankton’s 6-7 were fr Megan Wilson (25th-16:15) and jr Jade Steinberg (35th-16:41), while SFR’s were fr Seanna Kautz (29th-16:29) and soph Laura Bauer (44th-16:53).

In the boys AA race, Rough Rider jr Bill Kogel surged away from the field midway for an impressive 15:26, 20 seconds up on Buck jr Brad Anderson’s 15:46. While SFR lead the race through three runners, the finishes of Yankton’s freshmen in the 4-5 spots enabled them to take the meet, 86-96, with Rapid City Stevens 3rd with 107.

What made the race such a thrill for the top two boys teams was the fact that neither of them really had strong expectations of being so high on the podium. Yankton had lost 6 of the 7 runners from last year’s state champs, while SFR was coming off a Greater Dakota Conference meet where they finished well back. SFR’s finish was, in fact, their highest ever at state and both of their coaches said that it was actually the impressive performances by their 4-5 that enabled them to beat everyone but Yankton.

New: Girls AA Full Recap - Boys AA Full Recap

Preview by Steve Underwood

Sioux Falls Argus-Leader sports editor Eric Bursch contributed information for this story.

HURON, SD --- No disrespect to that fantastic Eastern States Girls meet in Manhattan last week. No doubting the depth and impact of big invites like Mt. SAC and many others. But for intensely high quality, both team-wise and individually; for a one-shot rivalry match for all the marbles; for the only state with two top-five NTN teams – head into the rugged prairie that is central South Dakota and witness Saturday’s showdown between HL#1/US#3 Yankton and HL#2/US#4 Sioux Falls.

They haven’t met in a dual meet. They haven’t met in an invitational. The Gazelles’ defending champ Betsy Bies and the Rough Riders’ Allison Eckert, the top two harriers in the state, haven’t seen each other in person since the state track meet in May. There’s only 17 Class AA teams in South Dakota, so it’s not like they’re losing each other in a maze of invitational opportunities. But Yankton head coach Dan Fitzsimmons and Sioux Falls Roosevelt head coach Kristi Rieger haven’t avoided each other. But they didn’t make it a point to schedule each other, either, or make sure they were in the same invitational.

Bies winning NTN; Allison Eckert winning Griak

It just worked out this way. So it comes down to one shot, one race, one meet that has the state harrier community electrified – which has pretty much been the case the last three years before this. The two schools wrestled control of South Dakota and started the path to becoming superpowers in 2003, when Bies and Allison and Krista Eckert were freshmen, and Yankton’s Ramsey Kavan was a junior.

Yankton won their first state title in this run and Kavan made Foot Locker Finals that fall and the country began to take notice of South Dakota. The next year, it all exploded. The team race at state was painfully tight, with Kavan winning her third straight title and leading her team to a 4-point win over the Rough Riders. Yankton and SFR both made the first-ever NTN, with Kavan outrunning everyone in Portland to lead her team to a 3rd-place finish.

SFR was 14th, with the Eckerts both in the top 13 of 140 runners. Kavan also won Foot Locker Midwest and was 3rd in San Diego, while Allison Eckert also qualified as a soph by taking 7th and then 22nd at Finals.

Yankton won state by 19 over SFR and made NTN again in 2005, with Bies dominating SD all fall long and making it two individual titles in a row for her school by triumphing in the mud of Portland, leading the Gazelles to 5th. She also was runner-up at FL Midwest and 10th in San Diego. SFR finished 3rd in the Heartland, but Allison Eckert overcame an early-season car accident to make her 2nd FL Finals while Krista narrowly missed again.

SFR has rejoined Yankton in the top two again this fall and, following a great spring where she ran 10:19 3200, Allison Eckert has had her best cross season with Griak and Rim Rock wins. But Bies has only lost once and has led Yankton to an unbeaten season, with a state leading time of 13:52.

All that said, both coaches know it will be depth that will make the difference. Behind Bies will be Tiffany Leader, Emily Smith, Mariah Hofer, Megan Hilson, Kristin Sternhagen, and Jade Steinberg. For SFR after the two Eckerts it will be Caitlyn Crowley, Bailey Breams, Seanna Kautz, Erin Hargins, and Laura Bauer.    

Former Yankton star Ramsey Kavan was at the peak of the SD power wave this decade.

Fifteen minutes of intense racing between two top teams, two great runners (and many other very good ones) … for everything. What more could anyone want?

Yankton-SFR girls will be the big story in Huron, but not the only story.

While the two squads will heavily dominate the team race, Sturgis senior Jessica Engel will make a strong push for at least the top four, and maybe more. While the Eckerts were on their final college visit, Engel took the Greater Dakota Conference meet (Rapid City Stevens also won the team title). She was 4th in the AA race last fall behind Bies, Allison Eckert, and Krista Eckert.

SFR’s Krista Eckert and Yankton’s Tiffany Leader (5th in 2005) will be at least in the run for 3rd, or better with great days, and Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s Paige Orcutt (6th in 2005) is another top returnee.

In addition to having prime contenders for the AA girls team and individual titles, SFR also has one of the boys individual favorites in junior Bill Kogel, 7th in the state last fall and running very well in 2006. He will battle with Brandon Valley’s Greg Beesley, Yankton’s Brad Anderson, and Pierre’s Travis Fitzke.

Coach Fitzsimmons’ Yankton boys, meanwhile, were the 2005 team AA champs, winning by 46-76 over Rapid City Stevens, breaking the latter school’s 10-year-streak. While Yankton lost six seniors off that super squad (also top-ranked in HL), their depth will have them contending again. But Stevens, the GDC winner, will also be a favorite.

For the Class A girls, Chamberlain was the 2005 champ by a point over St. Thomas More, but Region 4A champ Cheyenne Eagle-Butte (8th in 05) looks to be the favorite this time. Defending individual champ junior Alida Oegema of St. Thomas More has had an off year and Chester Area soph Laura Wolles, Cheyenne freshman Jordan Wohlleber, and Beresford 8th-grader Miranda Kobes will likely battle for the title.

For the Class A boys, Hot Springs was a 25-point winner last year, and lost just one senior. But McLaughlin out of 4A will be a serious challenger after dominating 4A with 5 of the top 7. Individually, aptly named Pine Ridge senior Alex Pine is the defending champ and his 5A title suggests he’s ready to top the medal stand again. But watch for Region 4A champ Alex Muntefering, who was 6th last year.

Another individual title defender will toe the line for Class B boys as the favorite in Takini soph Kiko Mendoza. Great Plains Lutheran sr John Rawerts, who was 8th last year and dominated Region 1, is another to watch for. McIntosh won the team title last year, but runner-up Eureka/Bowdle may supplant them this time.

For the Class B girls, Hoven/Edmunds Central and White River were the most dominant region champs. Hoven was third last year behind Kimball and South Central. Gayville-Volin senior Emma Erickson, a top sprinter in track, is gunning for her 2nd title, with Hoven junior Nicole Rausch (2nd last year, 1st 2003) also a prime contender.