BROOKINGS – The Aberdeen Central boys’ cross country team won the team title and the Golden Eagles placed several runners in the top ten in both divisions at the Russ Strande Invitational in Brookings on Thursday.

The Golden Eagle boys finished with a score of 38, eight points ahead of host Brookings (46). Watertown, Tea Area, and Harrisburg rounded out the top five.

Central boys’ coach Greg Murley said it was a full team effort.

“We had 10 guys place in the top 20 to win the boys division,” Murley said. “All our guys did what they needed to do and I’m very proud of them for that.”

Central’s Joseph Perkins placed third with a time of 16:55.41, while Tate DeVries finished directly behind in fourth place (16:58.36). David VanVeen earned an eighth-place finish with a time of 17:08.87.

“Joe, Tate, and David put solid races together for us,” Murley said.

Sam Schultz (11th) and Christian Wells (12th) finished just outside the top ten, while Rylan Johnson, Esten Foss, Max Nelson, and Patrick Severson finished 17th-20th, respectively. Tino Lopez finished in 25th place.

Murley said the team accomplished its goals for the meet.

“We put some specific goals in place and our boys competed hard to achieve those goals,” Murley said. “I’m pleased with our daily training and how we are progressing.”

Murley said the team will look to continue that progression as the season moves along.

“With ESD around the corner, we have our sights on competing at our best during championship season.”

On the girls’ side, the Golden Eagles were led by a strong finish from Juna Ramey, who captured third-place with a time of 19:47.89, while Morgan VanVeen earned a 12th place finish.

In addition to bringing varsity runners to the meet, Central girls’ coach Eric Pedersen noted that several younger runners competed at the meet.

“We brought a few seventh and eighth graders up to run JV and varsity, so that was fun to watch as they progress forward with things,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen was impressed with how well his team performed.

“The results seemed to be positive for that as we had two of them finish in the top 15 for the JV race and another strong push from the kids we had in varsity,” Pedersen said.

Other Central runners participating in the varsity race included Khloe Cochran (26th), Angie Lopez (29th), Allison Brenner (30th), Alyssa Novstup (32nd), Isabella Vrbka (33rd), Liz Preszler (37th), Elsa Schiferl (38th), Kylee Hanley (41st), Annaliese Miller (42nd), Olivia Spjut (43rd), and Scout Rosendahl (46th).

Pedersen was glad to see the more experienced runners encourage the inexperienced runners while competing on the Brookings course.

“I’m happy with how the older kids took the younger kids along with them as well and showed them how to go about a larger race like this one,” Pedersen said. “Brookings’ course is a lot of rolling hills and long turns and the kids attacked that when they needed to and showed a lot of good drive today.”

For complete results, click on the following link:

https://results.dakotatiming.com/display.html?event_id=1323