Titan cross country team competes in Huron: Bialas, Hammerquist lead varsity teams

Sep 24

3 min read

The Tea Area High School cross country team capped their Homecoming week with a trip to Huron early Saturday morning, Sept. 19 to compete in the Clyde Cotton Invitational. The meet featured over 500 athletes from nearly 20 schools.

The varsity girls race opened the day and the Titans turned in strong races. Grace Bialas led the Titan effort, using a strong finish to move up through the field and claim 15th place (20:47.1). Logan Castle had a strong start and finished just out of the medals in 24th place (21:09.2). Taylor Boehnke grabbed 31st place (21:29.3) with Gretchen Curtis close behind in 35th place (21:47.4). Abby Hilleson finished in 46th place (22:24.4). Grace Chapman recorded a new personal best time (22:50.8) to earn 53rd place. The varsity girls finished fifth in the team scoring.

The varsity boys competed next with eight Titans in the field. Reid Hammerquist used a strong middle move to work up through the field and finish in 16th place (16:56.9). Reece Christian also moved well in the final mile, claiming 37th place (18:05.5). Kaden Christian grabbed 46th place (18:23.3) with Grant Curtis close behind in 48th place (18:28.1). Jonah Klemsich earned 41st place (18:40.5) as Malachi Kaiser claimed 69th place (19:09.2). Jaxon Johanneson finished in 91st place (20:14.7) and Noah Korver claimed 100th place (21:05.7). The varsity boys finished sixth in the team scoring.

The JV girls’ race saw two Titans claim top ten finishes in their first 5K races. Carly Castle led the Titans, claiming 4th place (22:47.8) with Angelina Dusa close behind in 10th place (23:07.1). Ella Kamps (29th place; 25:35.3) and Natalie Hyronimus (33rd place; 26:27.6) both used strong starts to run a season best times. Cadence Micucci earned 42nd place (29:55.0) in her first career cross country race. The JV girls finished fourth in the team scoring.

The JV boys had ten Titans competing in the race. Grant Woodis led the Titans, finishing 22nd in his first 5K race (20:05.4). Andrew Mitchell started a run of Titan finishers, with Mitchell claiming 46th (21:40.9), Lincoln Dykstra 49th (new PR—21:44.9), and Eliam Bullis 53rd (21:50.0). Jace Ullom grabbed 63rd place (22:47.2) with teammate, Kadin Zolnowsky, right behind in 64th (22:47.5) and Noah Sayler in 66th (23:04.6). Ben Will claimed 77th place (24:10.9) and Jhett Waltner earned 92nd place (26:35.4). The JV boys finished seventh in the team scoring.

The Middle School races wrapped up the day with a deviation from the usual race of 3K down to 2900m. The Titans turned in a number of great performances.

For the middle school girls, Genevieve Decker led the Titans, earning runner-up honors (11:56.8). Madeline Olinger grabbed 23rd place (13:09.4) with Samantha Klemisch (31st place; 13:21.3) and Vayda VanBeek (43rd; 13:47.6) close behind. Ellery DeGeest claimed 50th place (13:55.2) as Emilia Marandici finished 52nd (13:58.2) and Kinslee Kerr 56th (14:13.8). Olivia Grunewaldt grabbed 66th (14:27.9), Penelope Porter 70th (14:30.3), Michelle Teng 73rd (14:40.0), Stella Carlson 75th (14:44.8), Sophia Thomson 82nd (15:09.6), Everly Dreckman 85th (15:33.3), AvaLynn Ullom 86th (15:36.5), Irie Smith 101st (16:35.9), Elyse Whitley 102nd (16:44.6), 6th grader Madison Ollerich 104th (17:12.8), Olivia Brockman 106th (17:44.3) and Bergen Imhoff 107th (17:45.3). The MS girls finished fifth in team scoring.

For the middle school boys, the Titans were led by Tucker Hasting’s 19th place finish (11:50.3), followed closely by Micah Hyronimus’ 22nd place finish (11:54.0). Rhett Wulff grabbed 34th place (12:13.6), with Jordan Detloff close behind in 36th place (12:22.0). Owen Hodnefield claimed 51st place (13:05.4) with David Marandici near in 60th place (13:34.9). Zane Curry finished in 64th place (14:10.3), Tristan Meyer 66th (14:!9.6), Night Hermanson 69th place (14:33.8), Miguel Teng 70th (14:39.7), Abel Madera 71st (14:43.3), Bently Hart 76th place (15:45.2), Dax Browning 78th (16:15.3), Amir Nuriyev 79th (18:36.7) and Benjamin Hyronimus 81st place (19:41.4). The MS boys were fourth in the team scoring.

The Titans will compete in the Russ Strande Invitational Meet on Thursday, Sept. 24 at the Edgebrook Golf Course in Brookings. The middle school girls begin the race at 4 p.m., followed by the middle school boys, JV girls, JV boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys. Also on Thursday, Sept. 24 the top seven varsity runners will be competing at Rapid City at Hart Ranch.