HURON – The Aberdeen Central cross country teams got in one final in-season competition ahead of next weekend’s state meet, as the Golden Eagles headed south for the Roger Loecker Invite Thursday evening at Broadland Creek Country Club.

Central’s girls’ squad finished fourth overall, led by a pair of runners just outside the top 10. The Golden Eagle boys were seventh overall.

Juna Ramey and Allie Novstrup finished 11th and 12th, respectively, to pace the girls’ program. Eighth-grader Kylee Hanley joined them in the top 20, finishing 19th.

Central girls’ coach Eric Pedersen said his team had to buck a stiff October breeze throughout the course.

“I’m really proud of this group from top to bottom for how the season went,” Pedersen said. “We ended on a windy and smoky day today, but I saw the kids compete very hard throughout the day. I think that has been a theme with this group to just keep competing until the race is over.”

While this race marked the end of the line for all but the varsity contingent, Pedersen said it was good for the rest of his team to get in that last bit of competition ahead of the state meet.

“(They) mainly used this meet as a chance to get the legs moving and get in a racing mindset the week before state,” he said.

In contrast, the Central boys chose to rest their varsity runners, instead pulling up younger runners to race in the spotlight.

“Our goal today was to get our younger kids experience in races they didn’t typically run during the season,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “Some middle school (kids) were pulled up to JV and some JV got a look at a varsity meet.”

Cody Kiesz and Kyson Fayant paced the boys’ squad with 22nd and 23rd place finishes, respectively. Hayden Werlinger chimed in at 35th overall for the Golden Eagles. Eli Weinrich was 41st, and Blake Hauge was 50th.

“We knew the wind was going to be tough today, but our kids ran well to finish out their seasons,” Murley said.

The state cross country meet is slated for Oct. 26 at Hart Ranch Resort in Rapid City.