Ranger girls receive region title

Just like head coach Joe Noyes predicted, the Hill City High School Ranger cross country girls placed first and the boys placed second at the South Dakota High School AA Region 5A Cross Country Meet Oct. 17. 

“With athletic.net, we’re able to score out the meet and get an idea of where we can be,” said Noyes. “That allows us to have an idea of where we’re at going into the state meet and where we think we can climb to. It’s nice when it goes like you think, especially when you can score better than what you were projected.” 

Before the region meet, Noyes told the girls they could win, but it would be close. Even so, he encouraged them to try to win the meet with a better score than was projected. The girls rose to this challenge in the varsity 5K race. 

After battling sickness and missing two practices that week, Rarity Cournoyer took the lead for the Rangers and placed second overall with a time of 20:00.71. 

“For her to come back from having a little bug and still getting second was a good race,” said Noyes. 

Close behind Cournoyer was Aspen Veneklasen. She finished fourth with a season record of 20:25.34. This was 1:19.58 faster than Veneklasen ran at the same course Sept. 27 during the Rapid City Area Schools High School Invitational Cross Country Meet.

“Aspen was kind of our surprise of the day. She really stepped up,” said Noyes. “I talked to her one-on-one about my expectations for her and where she can go as a runner, and she absolutely rose to those.” 

Brooke Thayer-Burke finished next in seventh at 20:54.16. Then, Hadley Walker placed ninth with a seasonal record of 21:28.33. 

Finally, Jaelyn Peters placed 20th at 23:02.39, and Aliyah Peters placed 22nd at 23:26.97. Five out of the six Ranger girls achieved a top 20 finish. 

In the junior varsity race, Phoebe Bentley-Buschur won with a seasonal record of 22:56.92. Her new time earned her the final place on the Ranger team at the state meet. 

In the boys varsity 5K, Tate Grabow was once again the champion of the day with a time of 15:53.18. 

“He won pretty decisively. I feel like that kid should have all the confidence in the world going into the state meet,” said Noyes. 

Brandon Escalante rejoined the Rangers for the region meet and claimed seventh place with a time of 17:39.16.

“It was nice to just see our senior finish a race,” said Noyes. “Hopefully for him, it just kind of gets his confidence back a little bit, and we’ll get him rolling here for the state meet.”

From there, Barrett Bush placed 12th with a personal record of 18:03.31. Aiden Williams was just behind in 13th with a season record of 18:05.41. Next was James Dubois in 18th at 18:33.15. Finally, John Titus Isakson wrapped up the race for the Rangers in 22nd with a time of 19:14.89. 

“Those four boys are just getting better every week,” said Noyes. “I just feel like their best race is right ahead of us.” 

Again, five out of the six Ranger boys achieved a top 20 finish. 

Of the day as a whole, Noyes said, “It was really fun. I’m looking forward to where we’re going to be this weekend because I definitely think Thursday was an indicator, and it was a positive indication of what we can do.”

If the Rangers have their best day, Noyes predicts that Hill City can have two teams in the top four at state. 

The South Dakota High School AA Class A State Cross Country Meet is Saturday, Oct. 26, at Hart Ranch in Rapid City. With the state meet only 30 minutes from Hill City, Noyes encourages community members to come out in green and gold to support the Rangers. 

“In 2017 and 2020 when we were there, it was like it was a home meet for the Rangers. We had so many people show up. So I challenge our fans and our community to show up one more time and get out because it’s not often that you get to watch our kids run. They put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time,” said Noyes.