Black Hills State Girls, Dickinson State Boys Win MMC Meet

BY SCOTT MORRISON

The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets girls and the Dickinson State Hawks boys teams were able to win their respective team competitions.

Both teams relied on the consistency of their athletes in the Graphic Edge Mount Marty College Invitational Cross Country Meet at the Human Service Center track on Saturday morning.

The Yellow Jackets earned the top spot on the girls’ side thanks in part to top 12 individual finishes by their top four of their runners.

“We knew that there would be a lot of teams at this meet that we will face in Regionals,” Black Hills coach Scott Walkinshaw said. “This meet was important for us from a rankings standpoint.”

They were able to edge Concordia by two points in the end. The Yellow Jackets scored a 49, and Concordia finished with a 51.

Wendy O’Lexey led the Yellow Jackets by finishing third with an 18:19.77. She finished just seconds ahead of teammate Kerry Washburn who finished in sixth place with an18:32.57.

Alicia Verhulst finished in tenth place for the Yellow Jackets after running the course in 19:14.17. Shelli Scheffler finished in 12th place with a 19:18.81.

Dordt College’s Jen Kempers won the top spot in the individual race after defeating Northwestern College’s Charity Miles by only a fraction of a second.

Kempers was able to take advantage of her last wind to defeat Miles. She ran a 18:15.59 in comparison to Miles’s time which was 18:15.60.

“I was able to pick up some speed coming off of the bottom of the hill,” Kempers said. “I basically just threw myself at the finish line in hopes that I could win the race.”

BHSU’s O’Lexey finished in third followed Northwestern’s Olivia Johnson who finished with an 18:24.47. Dickinson State’s Rose Jepkirui finished in fifth place after running the course in 18:27.67.

The hosting Lancer girls did not have enough runners to place as a team. However they did have a couple of girls who were able to perform well in the misty conditions.

Megan O’Grady led the Lancer pack with a 41st place finish. She ran the course in a 20:31.12. Ashley Solem had one of her best performances on the season Saturday morning.

Britteny Willams and Amberle Zuerlin finished 142 and 145 respectively.

“We had a good meet today, but we are going to have to get our girls healthy for us to compete,” Lancer coach Dave Fischer said.

In the mens’ race, Dickinson State was able to earn the top finish by scoring 54 points. They edged Concordia who finished the men’s race with a 60.

Sergio Jimenez’s second place finish helped the Hawks to the victory. Jimenez was in third place for a majority of the game, but kicked it into an extra gear to overtake Iowa Western Community College’s Alfred Kite.

“Sergio is one of the most competitive athletes we have on our team,” Hawks coach Thadd O’Donnell said. “If you put him out their one-on-one he will work his hardest to come out on top.”

Jimenez finished ahead of Kite after running the course in 25:22.28. He was one of four Dickinson State runners who finished in the top 15.

“We have great depth. We have a lot of different guys who have finished in the top five in the last couple of meets.”

Iowa Western Community College’s David Barmasai had by far the best individual performance of the meet as he finished ahead of the second place Jimenez by nearly 30 seconds.

Barmasai set the pace in the mens’ race by running a 24:58.57. Kite finished in third with a 25:31.35.

Dakota State University’s Chris Heezen finished in fourth place with a 25:41.22. Concordia University’s David Goeglein rounded up the top five with a 25:49.40.

Overall, the Mount Marty Invitational turned out to be a gigantic success. Runners lined the course as far as the eye could see throughout a majority of both races.

“I am very happy with the way the meet turned out,” Fischer said. “There were an exceptional amount of teams that were all able to participate to the fullest.”