When Aberdeen Central competes at the State AA Cross Country Meet in Sioux Falls on Saturday, it will be two weeks since the Golden Eagles’ last action, and they will be ready to go.

Central, which had its final regular-season meet canceled last week, will definitely be familiar with the course. The last time the Eagles ran – at the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet – it was on the same Yankton Trail Park course where the state meet is taking place.

On the girls’ side, the Golden Eagles will have seven runners competing on Saturday, including Juna Ramey, who has improved her PR dramatically throughout the season.

“I remember a point in time where her goal was sub-19:40 for a PR and she’s sitting at about a 19:10 right now,” Pedersen said. “That PR she set at ESD on this course.”

Other runners will include seventh-grader Alyssa Novstrup, who Pedersen says had made “really good strides” this season, as well as Morgan VanVeen, who also set a personal record at the ESD meet. Khloe Cochran has also seen improvements this season.

Pedersen said the team will be competing against a deep field of runners at this year’s meet.

“The field seems to be really deep this year,” Pedersen said. “I go back and look at times from last year and it seems like everybody has gotten faster, which I think seems to be the trend.”

The ESD Meet gave Central the opportunity to experience the course, which Pedersen said was good for the younger runners to prepare for the meet.

“I think ESD was a really good way for a lot of them to see what the competition level was like at bigger meet like this, a championship-type meet,” Pedersen said.

Overall, Pedersen is excited for his team to compete this weekend.

“I’m just really excited to see how much they take this state meet in and what they can do on Saturday,” Pedersen said.

On the boys’ side, Central also qualified seven runners for the state meet. Coach Greg Murley said the team has worked hard to get to this point in the year.

“They’ve done a good job of really working hard and just progressing through the season,” Murley said.

Golden Eagle runners that will be running on Saturday include Joe Perkins, Tate DeVries, David VanVeen, Christian Wells, Carson Urlacher, Esten Foss, and Sam Schultz. Murley said he likes his team’s chances entering the meet.

“I think Joe and Tate and David have chances to be in that top ten,” Murley said. “And to be honest with you, I think our whole team has a chance to be in the top 30-35. It’s just a matter of putting it together in a certain day.”

Murley says the team’s depth will be a strength heading into the meet.

“We do have some depth in our quality,” Murley said. “It’s the best depth team I’ve ever had. This team is a legit team, and I don’t think a lot of people see us coming. They’re not looking for Aberdeen Central to have a good showing, but I really think we will.”

While he will enjoy watching runners from around the state compete at Saturday’s state meet, Murley says what he is looking forward to the most is being around his kids and enjoying the time with them.

“The thing I enjoy is our kids,” Murley said. We go down and they’re a great group to travel with, and they’re fun. We have a lot of fun. They will compete their butt off for Aberdeen Central. That’s what I really look forward to.”

(Note: Class A and Class B previews will run later this week)