The training is complete, the goals are established, and now it’s just a matter of runners going out and performing as they head into the State Cross Country Meet at Hart Ranch in Rapid City on Saturday.

The Class B girls’ race begins at Noon (MDT), followed by the Class A girls at 12:30 p.m., the Class AA girls at 1 p.m., the Class B boys at 1:30 p.m., the Class A boys at 2 p.m., and the Class AA boys at 2:30 p.m.

“This isn’t something that we started training for in August,” said Aberdeen Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “This is something we started training for last winter.”

The Golden Eagles have a loaded squad that is fresh off an Eastern South Dakota Conference championship. In fact, Murley said this is one of the best teams in school history.

“I’m guessing that this would beat the ’19 team that only scored 22 points at the ESD meet. They’re that good,” Murley said. “They’re young though. And are you going to show up and perform on that day? You’re asking a lot for young kids to do that, but I think we’re ready.”

Murley said Sioux Falls Lincoln is the overwhelming favorite, but that Central will be right in the hunt for second place along with Brookings, Brandon Valley, and Rapid City Stevens.

“If you’re first or second, you get a trophy that stands by itself,” Murley said. “If you’re third, fourth, fifth or sixth you have to buy a little stand for it.”

The Golden Eagles would prefer not to buy a little stand.

“We very much count on five guys,” Murley said. “Carson Urlacher, Tate DeVries, Max Nelson, Patrick Severson, and Esten Foss have to run well for us.”

Central competed on the Hart Ranch course earlier this season and had one of its most disappointing performances of the season. Murley believes lessons learned on that day helped to propel his team the rest of the season.

“I kind of think we ran better at that ESD because of that, because the kids are competitors. … I think they probably learned at that point, we have to focus on what we’re doing here, otherwise we’re not going to have the success we want,” Murley said.

The Golden Eagles have put in the mileage, have the talent, and now want to finish the year with their best showing of the season.

“Our expectation is probably to run the very best race we can run over the course of the year. It’s our culminating event,” Murley said. “ESD is obviously a big deal to us, but we really want to perform at the state stage and see where we’re at, and just kind of make sure that we’re representing Aberdeen the best we can.”

Like their male counterparts, the Central girls also did not have their best showing at Hart Ranch earlier this fall, but plan to change that this weekend.

“It will be a much different story this time around,” said Central girls’ coach Eric Pedersen. “We’ve done a lot more hill training over the course of these past couple weeks.”

The Golden Eagles are led by Juna Ramey, who finished 25th at state last season.

While Central features a young squad, Pedersen said eighth-graders Allie Novstrup and Kylee Hanley are one the verge of moving up the ladder.

“There’s been a lot of gains out of kids like Allie Novstrup and Kylee Hanley,” Pedersen said. “They’re starting to learn more how to race and stuff like that.”

Khloe Cochan and Allison Brenner will also be counted on for major contributions at the state meet.

“We’ve got a really young group of kids,” Pedersen said, “and I think that that’s exciting to bring them out there and get some of their first experience.”

After a fifth place finish at ESD, the Golden Eagles definitely have goals in mind for the weekend and are planning for a big conclusion to their season.

“We’ve got some good goals. The girls are ready to go. They’re having fun,” Pedersen said. “We’ve had a great season so far, so hopefully we can end it on a high note out west.”

CLASS A

Aberdeen Roncalli will not have a complete team at the state meet, but will be represented by three runners who had big finishes at last week’s Region 1A meet in Webster.

The Cavaliers will be represented by Addison Cassady and Hazel Kannegieter in the girls’ race, and Matt Peterson in the boys’ race.

“I was really pleased with the competitive nature with all three of the kids that are going to state,” said Roncalli coach Casey Steele.

Cassady closed the region race with a huge kick that allowed her to beat Clark-Willow Lake standout Kamryn Nesheim for the first time in their running careers.

“Addison not just strategically ran a great race, the confidence and courage that she showed picking off people through that last mile,” Steele said, “and then to beat a girl that she’s never beaten before, that was just incredible, the guts coming down to that last 50 meters there.”

Steele said the goal for this weekend is not a particular time, but rather moving up in place from last year’s state meet.

“Our ultimate goal going to the state meet is not just looking at dropping time, because that’s a hard thing to do sometimes, because of the weather, the difference in courses,” Steele said, “but we want to be looking at moving up in places for Addison and Hazel going into this meet.”

Steele said the goal is the same for Peterson, to move up and run in a pack where he is capable of running.

“I really want to see him at the state meet passing people through mile two and mile three to get him up there when I know that he can run,” Steele said. “Even when he’s run well the last few weeks, I know there’s lot more in him.”

Steele said that a key this weekend is to be aggressive throughout the race.

“We want to be aggressive on running the hills, through the hill and down the hill, and running turns aggressively,” Steele said. “So many kids back off going up that hill, going around curves. You can gain 3-4-5 strides on a kid that backs off every time that you run it aggressively, and that’s what we want to be doing when we get to Rapid.”

Miller’s Pierce Baumberger finished fourth last season and is back in the field. Milbank’s Bryan Meyer was 24th a year ago. Top returning area girls include Nesheim who was 11th last year and Deuel’s Jaycee Hourigan who was 25th.

CLASS B

The Potter County girls are set to make a run at a third straight Class B girls’ state championship.

The Battlers, who are short one runner from last year’s title squad, are peaking at the right time of the season.

“Last year we won every meet where this year it came down to conference and regions before we started winning,” said Potter County coach Jessica Larson. “That’s what I’m focused on at state, too.”

Naturally the Battlers have a target on their back as defending champs. Larson said the team just needs to go out and compete.

“We have to relax and just have some fun, and get rid of some nerves,” Larson said.

The Battlers have lived up to their mascot this season, battling through a variety of illness and injury.

“We had a lot of struggles with sickness and a few tweaks from volleyball,” Larson said, “but I was confident about where we were gonna be at as far as training and everything.”

Potter County is led by Dannika Kaup (third last season at state), Emma Schlachter (eighth), and Jayden Ahlmeier (11th).

Other top returning area girls are Northwestern’s Ella Boekelheide (runner-up last year), and Tara Blachford (10th), Warner’s Kenadee Wagner (fifth), and Kenna Wolberg (15th), Autumn Fallis of Highmore-Harrold (sixth), Kendal Uttecht of Wolse-Wessington (21st), and Madisyn Gellhaus of Ipswich (22nd). Last year’s State B champ Emery Larson of Chester is now competing for Pierre in Class AA.

Coach Larson said the competition will be fierce to determine the girls’ team champion with Warner, James Valley Christian, Northwestern, Ipswich and now Kimball to be right in the mix.

“With Kimball coming back to Class B it will be tight,” Larson said, “but our girls know where they need to be, as far as where they need to be amongst those runners.”

While Philip and Mitchell Christian figure to be the favorites to win the boys’ team crown, it has been another memorable season for the North Central boys’ squad, which won the Region 4B championship.

Thunder coach Jenny Roth said she instructed her runners not to be consumed with times and personal records this season.

“I thought we could approach the year by saying that when you run, and especially with athletic.net. you can always see your PR and you can always see where you’re ranked and you can just really become so focused on that … I want practice to be the best part of a kid’s day,” Roth said. “Working hard, there’s a lot of good things that come from that, too.”

Roth said she has not put an added on emphasis on state, instead focusing on attitude and effort.

“One thing that we did different this year that was right, was that we talked about state maybe like one time at the beginning of the year,” Roth said, “but we never have really put a big focus on that.”

Last year North Central was in Class A. Roth was happy that the kids had an opportunity to compete against the larger schools.

“I’m grateful that the kids had that best experience of running in Class A,” Roth said, “because how to do you know what you’re capable of unless you try.”

Top returning area boys’ runners this year include Gavin Hirsch of Herreid-Selby Area (10th last season), Faulkton’s Korbin Stark (23rd), and Frederick’s Milo Sumption (25th).

Roth said her runners just need to control what they can and go out and compete.

“We’re going to control what we can control: our race plan, our effort, our mental game. … What we can’t control is how fast other people are, the weather,” Roth said.

She wants her runners to just go out and give their best and then whatever happens, happens.

“I want them to just know that they can run like they always do and it will be enough,” Roth said.