SIOUX FALLS – Ella Boekelheide was not going to be denied.

The Northwestern eighth-grader fought off two different challengers to win the Class B girls’ cross country individual state championship at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls on Saturday.

The first challenge came from Kaelyn Ulschmid of Arlington who led for a good portion of the race.

“I was not expecting that. I’ve never run against the Arlington girl, so I didn’t even know who she was,” Boekelheide said. “I didn’t know how she ran. I was just trying to stay glued to her shoulder so I could match every move she made.”

Once Boekelheide had taken the lead, a late challenge came from Kimball-White Lake’s Autumn Baker, who passed Boekelheide during the final stages of the race.

“I heard them all cheering her name so I knew she coming,” Boekelheide said, “but once she passed me I knew I had to pass her back. I waited until the end because I knew I had a pretty strong kick.”

That kick propelled Boekelheide to a state championship.

“It feels amazing,” she said.

When asked how she was going to celebrate the accomplishment, Boekelheide paused for a second and responded, “Um, eat pizza.”

Bison’s Lane Krautschun finished first in the boys’ race.

Miller won its first ever boys’ state cross country team championship after years of top eight finishes.

“We’ve had good kids,” said Miller coach Tom McGough. “We’ve placed in the top eight in the state a number of times and finally we got the one that we wanted.”

The Rustlers had three runners in the top 24, including Pierce Baumberger who was third and Alex Schumacher who was fourth. Cade Gortmaker was 24th.

McGough said the title belongs to all the Miller runners who helped to build the program.

“You just have a group of kids that year in, year out that really strive,” McGough said, “and it’s a tribute to our athletes from the past that have established a program that we’ve been able to maintain that they’re a huge part of. We’re just really proud.”

Kimball-White Lake won the girls’ division title with Potter County second, Aberdeen Christian third and Ipswich fourth.

Christian placed three runners in the top 25 for the first time in school history.

“We had a very good today. The two teams, Potter County and Kimball going two and one, both really good teams,” said Knights coach Noah Aderhold. “I think third is great. Top three is fantastic and I’m really proud with how the girls ran.”

Christian’s three runners packed it up and finished within 21 seconds of each other.

Rachel Beaner was 16th, Grace Steger was 18th and Katie Steger was 23rd. All three runners will be back again next season.

“We don’t lose anybody so that’s really nice,” Aderhold said. “These girls are so determined. I know that they’re going to work hard for next season.”

Roncalli had two girls compete and both finished in the top 20. Paige Schmidt was 14th and her twin sister Sarah was 20th.

“I’m really happy with how Paige and Sarah ran today,” said Roncalli coach Brady Lesnar. “They really came and competed. You can’t say enough about their effort that they gave today.”

Madisyn Gellhaus of Ipswich was sixth, Danika Kaup of Potter County seventh and Morgan Sumption of Frederick eighth. Other place winners included Jadyn Ahlmeier and Emma Schlachter of Potter County who were 15th and 17th, respectively, and Gracyn Kadlec of Ipswich who was 23rd.

Northwestern finished second in boys’ team points. Nicholas Schlachter of Potter County was fifth individually, while Hunter Niederbaumer of Faulkton was 10th. Other place winners included Lincoln Woodring and Justin Haven of Northwestern who were 15th and 16th, respectively, Dillon Browning of Warner who was 18th, Milo Sumption of Frederick who was 19th, and Dylan Wald of Ipswich who was 25th.

Paul Gutenkauf of Roncalli finished 34th. Lesnar used Region 1B’s success in the girls’ race as motivation for his lone runner in the boys’ race.

“Before our race, I told him look at the girls’ race. Look at how well those girls ran and they’re all in our area,” Lesnar said. “It’s going to be the same for the guys. I told him you belong in this race. You’re with people that run really well. Just trust yourself and go get it. I thought he really ran well.”

Walker Larson was the lone Christian boys’ runner. The senior finished 48th.

“Not as great as we would have hoped. Just a bit of a rough day,” Aderhold said. “Sometimes you have those and sometimes it’s at the state meet, which is unfortunate.”

Aderhold said the field was loaded.

” It’s not an easy thing to podium in Class B on the boys’ side,” he said.

For complete meet results, click on the following link:

https://results.dakotatiming.com/display.html?event_id=868&res=211023F004