Rangers at State

In the girl's race, Stephanie Qualm and Mariah Asheim both raced extremely well. Stephanie was in 48th place at the mile mark and made a steady progression during the last half of the race to move into 28th place with 600 meters remaining. Stephanie made a huge move on two of the hills and passed five to ten runners with each of these moves. Stephanie made a vicious attempt to catch three runners and make the medal stand, but wound up just short, finishing in 28th place (17:34). Stephanie's effort was outstanding- you can really see it in her face when she runs. Mariah ran a very smart race, capitalizing on others going out too fast in the rough conditions. Mariah was muddy mess during the race and was not passed the entire race. In fact, she moved from the 110's up to 80th place in the last mile of the race. In a race that included over 130 of the best cross country runners in the State, finishing 80th is exceptional. What makes both of these girl's races even more impressive is that their results were a result of pure determination, as each of these girls participated in sports besides cross country throughout the season and had limited training. What a great effort by these two girls!

Next was the boy's 5000 meter race. Andy Coy was the lone Ranger in the event. The boy's Class A race was the buzz of the entire state, as it included the best individual field ever assembled. Three-time defending Class B state champion, Kiko Mendoza, now running for Cheyenne-Eagle Butte was in the race looking to become the first four-time winner in history. The 2006 state champion and state meet record-holder Alex Muntefering of Parkston was in the race as well as Andy and Marc Whirlwind Soldier of Todd County, who was third a year ago at the state meet. The race went out very conservatively due to the wind and swampy conditions and two miles was crossed in 10:40. At that point, Mendoza made a move that Andy couldn't cover and proceded make another surge at the 4k mark to break Muntefering. Andy ran an exceptional time on the muddy and wet course, running 16:37 to finish 3rd, behind Mendoza and Muntefering. His time was the 10th fastest of the entire day, earning "All-State" honors, which go to the 20 best combined times from all three classes: B,A and AA. This was Coy's third year straight of placing in the Top 10 Individually, a feat very few athletes have acheived. Andy's , toughness, leadership and work-ethic was outstanding this season.