RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central runners battled the conditions and solid competition during the Rapid City Invitational Cross County Meet on Friday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles, who had not competed on many hills so far this season, found the Hart Ranch Course and the warm temperatures to be a bit challenging.

“We finished eighth as a team. I didn’t think it was our best performance,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley, who took the blame for the team’s training strategery. “We’re bringing a young crew out here. I don’t know that we were focused as well as we needed to be.”

The meet gave the Golden Eagles a chance to compete on this year’s state meet course. Murley said there were some positives and things to work on from Friday’s action.

“We came out here to learn the course and practice the routine,” Murley said, “and I think that we learned some things we did really well and we learned some things that we didn’t do very well, and as a boys’ program there’s some things we need to fix.”

Murley pointed out the performance of Max Nelson, who led the squad with a 28th place finish.

“Max Nelson had a really good day today,” Murley said.

Murley noted that Ryder Davis had a solid day as well.

“We did have some lights,” Murley said, “but we need to get better.”

The Central girls experienced a similar meet. The squad finished in 12th place.

“We came out here to get some experience with the course we will be running the state meet at,” said Central girls’ coach Eric Pedersen. “It was good for the girls to see what they can expect from the course and the competition from some of these West River schools that we don’t see as often.”

Like the boys, the Central girls left knowing there is still room for improvement.

“The times or positions weren’t quite what we were expecting and we have some work do to in that area,” Pedersen said, “but we acknowledge we didn’t have our best day and it’s part of the process as well.”

Juna Ramey led the squad with a 42nd place finish. Teammate Allie Novstrup was 49th. Pedersen also pointed out the effort of Kylee Hanley.

“I was pleased with Allie Novstrup where she positioned herself in the race and constantly made moves, same with Kylee Hanley,” Pedersen said. “They’ve gone back and forth a lot positionally with each other between the top eight, which is great from using our own teammates to get each other better.”

The Golden Eagles will head to a meet in Watertown on Thursday, before the Eastern South Dakota Conference Meet the following week in Huron.

To see complete meet results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/241502/results/all