Rausch, Heins qualify for State Meet

Two Tea Area High School cross country runners punched their ticket to State last week, placing in the top twenty at the Region 3A cross country meet held in Beresford on Thursday, Oct. 12.

Junior Cole Rausch captured sixth place with another strong performance, clocking a time of 17:58. This placing advanced him to his first ever State Meet. Joining him will be Senior Peyton Heins who ran a near season best, 18:15.73, to claim 11th place and also qualify for his first ever State Meet.

The 2017 State A Meet will be held in Rapid City at Hart Ranch this Saturday, Oct. 21. The Class A girls compete at 1 p.m. (mountain time) and the Class A boys at 2:30 p.m. (mountain time). All classes will be running that day. Class AA girls run at 12 p.m. MT, Class B girls at 12:30 p.m. MT, Class AA boys at 1:30 p.m. MT and Class B boys at 2 p.m. MT.

Also competing at Regions were several other Titan runners who wrapped up successful seasons.

The varsity girls race began the afternoon’s competition. Tea Area was again led by senior Mariah Schroeder, who ran a great race, narrowly missing qualifying for State as she finished just out of the top 20. Schroeder earned 23rd place in a time of 23:01. Ashley Pruss claimed 31st place in a time of 24:03. Chylee Thompson finished in 34th place (24:27), with Katherine Lien close behind in 38th place (25:07). Seniors Brenna Daggett and Samantha Pies finished back-to-back, claiming 45th (26:03) and 46th (26:08) respectively. The Titan girls earned seventh place as a team. Beresford claimed the team title, Lennox took second and Ethan/Parkston third. The top three teams advanced to State. Individually the race was won by Beresford’s Cait Savey who finished with a time of 19:18.54.

For the varsity boys, Connor Eimers continued to impress, finishing as the top-ranked eighth grader in the region, earning 27th place in a time of 19:35. Jarret Johnson used a consistent stride to claim 38th place (20:45) and Rhett Daggett showed a strong middle race to earn 42nd place (20:57). The Titan boys finished in fifth place in the Region.