SIOUX FALLS – Area teams will bring a plethora of talent to the Class B State Cross Country Meet at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls on Saturday.

That list of teams will include defending state champion Potter County in the girls’ portion of the meet. The Battlers finished runner-up two years ago as a team and captured the title last season. They bring back a host of talent from that team, and Coach Jessica Larson said the expectations are simple.

“To win state for the girls,” Larson said.

The Battlers are paced by a trio of sophomores in Dannika Kaup, Emma Schlachter, and Jadyn Ahlemeier, along with eighth-grader Paige Ahlemeier and seventh-grader Jaycee Stevens. All five placed in the top ten at the Region 4B meet last week, with Kaup and Schlachter finishing in first and second. Kaup also finished fifth at last season’s state meet.

Larson says the group has stuck close together during meets this season, which will be key entering Saturday’s race.

“They’ll run together and hopefully put us where we need to be as far as team points go,” Larson said. “They run together all season, so it’s not a surprise that they don’t run together in a meet.”

The goal for the Battler girls is to run their best when it counts the most at the state meet.

“We hope we peak at the state meet. That’s been our big thing, and right now I don’t think my girls have seen their full potential, time-wise,” Larson said. “They were a little faster at this point last year, so we’re hoping that’s where they’re going to peak at is at the state meet.”

Nicholas Schlachter leads the Potter County boys’ team into the state meet after placing third at last year’s state meet. Schlachter has been one of the top runners in the state this fall, including winning the Region 4B title last week. Larson said the senior has big expectations for Saturday.

“He was pretty excited the other day when he was looking at times,” Larson said. “He had one of the faster times coming out of all the regions, so hopefully he’ll be right up there with them.”

In addition to her own team, Larson is looking forward to watching all the Class B runners.

“Ella Boekelheide (of Northwestern) and Emery Larson (defending champ of Chester Area) are doing really good,” Larson said. “Chester’s up there with us, along with Arlington for the girls, so we’ll have some competition. My girls are all five in the top 31 I believe right now, so I’m hoping to pull off all five in the top 25.”

Speaking of Boekelheide, the sophomore will once again lead the Wildcats to the state meet. Boekelheide finished second at last season’s state meet, and captured the Region 1B meet title last week.

Northwestern coach Kris Boekelheide said it will be exciting to see how well she performs on Saturday.

“She’s put in a lot of work and she’s very determined,” Coach Boekelheide said. “She loves good competition, so we’re excited to see how it goes.”

Freshman Tara Blachford will also compete for the Wildcats after placing sixth at the region meet. Blachford placed 26th at the state meet a year ago, while Sophia Troske, Isabelle Woodring, and Anneliese Holsing will also run for Northwestern on Saturday.

Coach Boekelheide said the region prepared her runners for the state meet.

“Our girls have probably one of the hardest regions, if not the hardest region, in the state,” Coach Boekelheide said. “We were real excited to get the whole team qualified. For our girls to get second in our region, that’s really good.”

Coach Boekelheide also believes several teams from Region 1B will place at the state meet, which would showcase just how competitive the Wildcats’ region is.

“Frederick’s always a strong team, and then having Ipswich, Warner, JVC,” Coach Boekelheide said. “I’m looking for all of those teams to have a real good chance to place at state.”

The Northwestern boys also qualified a team for the state meet; however, they will be without one of their top runners in senior Lincoln Woodring. Coach Boekelheide said Woodring was unable to finish the region meet due to health reasons and will be unable to compete on Saturday.

“Lincoln will not be able to run at state due to some health issues, so we’re really sad about that,” Boekelheide said. “He’s been a part of the team and just been a solid runner for us for many years. That’ll be tough not having him there this year. He will come and cheer for the boys and support them.”

Despite the loss of Woodring, the Northwestern boys will still bring a solid core of runners to the meet, including Nathan Melius, who won the Region 1B meet and placed tenth at last year’s state meet. Aaron Blachford, Josh Thorson, and Ty Boekelheide all placed in the top 12 at the region meet, and Coach Boekelheide likes the depth that her team, which has finished runner-up the past two seasons, brings to the state meet.

“Our boys’ side is really deep,” Boekelheide said. “The boys all stepped up and were still able to win the (region) meet, so that just shows that they’re very talented.”

Boekelheide is also excited to see how the Class B meets play out, and she says there is good competition throughout the entire class.

“Class B has such good competition. On the boys’ side, Philip, they’re just such a solid team. Mitchell Christian has some good runners, so I’m excited to see our boys compete against them,” Coach Boekelheide said. “Like I said, our girls’ team, it’ll just be fun to see how our region overall does there, because there’s just some good runners up in our area of the state.”

Other area girls’ runners to watch at the state meet include Autumn Fallis of Highmore-Harrold, who finished third in the Region 4B meet and fourth at last season’s state meet, Gracyn Kadlec and Madisyn Gellhaus of Ipswich, who placed fifth in the Region 1B meet and seventh at the state meet a year ago, Katie Allbee of Herreid-Selby Area, who finished fifth at the Region 4B meet, Kennadee Wagner of Warner, and Morgan Sumption and Jillian Ellwein of Frederick. Other boys’ runners to keep an eye on include Gavin Hirsch of Herreid-Selby Area, Milo Sumption of Frederick, Xavier Kadlec of Ipswich, Korbin Stark of Faulkton, and Jimmy Burma of Sunshine Bible Academy.