Hartington-Newcastle cross country teams are second in S.D. meet

TYNDALL, SD - The Hartington-Newcastle boys’ and girls’ cross country teams headed for Tyndall, S.D. on Sept. 19 to compete in the Bon Homme Invitational.with the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats bringing home the runner-up team hardware.

The Lady Wildcats posted a score of 36, 12 points above the champions, Kimball/ White Lake which had a score of 24.

Ava Noecker was the top Hartington-Newcastle finisher in 11th place, Claire Rolfes was one spot behind in 12th and Carmen Buschkamp placed 15th.

“Ava and Claire ran well together, pacing each other,” Hartington-Newcastle coach Mandy Hochstein said. “The girls’ team looks strong at this point in the season.”

Ryell Haug placed 23rd and Abby Anderson came in 29th for the Lady Wildcats.

Noecker, Claire Rolfes and Buschkamp all earned medals for their runs on the course and Haug was just outside a medal as the top 20 placers earned a hardware.

Isabel Rolfes placed 34th. Delani Runnels from Niobrara/Verdigre was the individual champion with a time of 20 minutes, 39.72 seconds, Autumn Baker of Kimball/White Lake was second in 20:52.18.

In the boys’ division, the Wildcats scored 30 points, just five points behind the team champion, Boyd County.

Adam and Alex Elks brought home some hardware, placing eighth and ninth respectively for Hartington-Newcastle.

Isaac Hernandez-Santiago was 18th, Aaron Wortmann was in the 25th spot and Coven Joachimsen placed 36th.

“Those two brothers are looking stronger than ever,” said Hochstein. “They continue to improve their times - and Isaac worked his way from the back of the pack early on in the race to get back in the medals.”

Tavin Schroeder from Freeman Academy/Marion was the boys’ champion with a time of 17:49.82 while teammate Finley McConniel was the runner-up in 18:00.08.

There was also a boys’ junior varsity division which team scores were kept. The Wildcat JV team won the division with a team score of just 15. No other team scores were reported.

Aidan Anderson placed second individually over the 4,000-meter course with Harrison Kuehn placing 11th.

Anderson led the first 3,000 meters according to Hochstein and improved his personal best by over minute when converting his time to 5,000 meters which he normally runs in Nebraska.

Gavin Joachimsen was 13th, Braeden Kleinshmit was 15th and Sammy Kuehn was was 18th for the junior Wildcat team.

Hartington-Newcastle ran in the University of Nebraska-Kearney Invitational at the Kearney Country Club on Sept. 25 amd are scheduled to run in the Battle Creek Invitational on Sept. 29.

BON HOMME INVITATIONAL Girls Team Results (Top 3 available): 1. Kimball/White Lake 24; 2. Hartington-Newcastle 36; 3. Scotland 64; North Central; Gayville-Volin; Gregory; Bon Homme; Freeman Academy/Marion; Burke; Wagner; Boyd County; Andes Central/Dakota Christian; Menno; Creighton; Niobrara/Verdigre; Stuart; Avon. Girls Individual Results: 1. Delani Runnels (N/V) 20:39.72; 2. Autumn Baker (K/WL) 20:52.18; 3. Angela Frick (NC) 22:01.58; 4. Jolie Westrum (G-V) 22:05.97; 5. Lily Baker (K/WL) 22:08.83; 6. Asia VanDerWerff (GRE) 22:29.58; 7. Claire Guthmiller (BH) 22:31.73; 8. Alli McCord (K/WL) 22:41.60; 9. Zoey Snyder (NC) 23:03.65; 10. Estelle Waltner (FA/M) 23:07.97; 11. Ava Noecker (H-N) 23:12.40; 12. Claire Rolfes (H-N) 23:13.70; 15. Carmen Buschkamp (H-N) 23:48.08; 23. Ryell Haug (H-N) 24:57.24; 29. Abby Anderson (H-N) 26:30.44; 34. Isabel Rolfes (H-N) 27:31.32. Boys Team Results (Top 2 available): 1. Boyd County 25; 2. Hartington-Newcastle 30; Freeman Academy/Marion; North Central; Stuart; Kimball/White Lake; Creighton; Avon; Gregory; Wagner; Bon Homme; Burke; Niobrara/Verdigre; Wagner. Boys Individual Results: 1. Tavin Schroeder (FA/M) 17:49.82; 2. Finley McConniel (FA/M) 18:00.08; 3. Will Nelson (BC) 18:26.32; 4. Mason Hagan (NC) 18:36.28; 5. Luke Ludwig (STU) 18:51.61; 6. Park Sinclair (K/WL) 19:14.45; 7. Conner Rohrer (CRE) 19:19.89; 8. Adam Elks (H-N) 19:41.07; 9. Alex Elks (H-N) 19:48.92; 10. Issac Jensen (BC) 20:11.18; 18. Isaac Hernandez-Santiago (H-N) 20:40.41; 25. Aaron Wortmann (H-N) 21:13.62; 36. Coven Joschimsen (H-N) 22:39.98. Boys JV Team Results (4k, Top team only): 1. Hartington-Newcastle 15; Freeman Academy/Marion; Boyd County; North Central; Avon; Gayville-Volin; Wagner; Gregory; Andes Central/Dakota Christian; Creighton; Scotland; Niobrara/Verdigre; Bon Homme. Individual JV Results: 2. Aidan Anderson (H-N) 15:53.08; 11.Harrison Kuehn (H-N) 17:30.04; 13. Gavin Joachimsen (H-N) 17:37.32; 15. Braeden Kleinschmit (H-N) 17:39.18; 18. Sammy Kuehn (H-N) 18:08.61.