Chamberlain girls claim Region 4A title: Cubs’ Santiago wins boys race

CHAMBERLAIN -- There was a sea of red at the Chamberlain Country Club.

Competing at its home course, Chamberlain captured the girls team title at the Region 4A cross-country meet on Thursday. Chamberlain’s Dom Santiago also claimed the boys individual title.

Santiago covered the 5,000-meter distance in 16-minutes and :43 seconds, edging Winner Area’s Kate Watson by two seconds on a chilly and windy afternoon.

“I just knew I needed to use the wind to my advantage when I had it and get out in front of him and make him catch me against the wind,” Santiago said.

Miller (23) nipped Winner Area (25) for the boys team title. Mobridge-Pollock (35) also qualified for the state meet.

On the girls side, the Cubs placed all six runners in the top nine and all punched their tickets to state. Winner Area was next with 48 points. Mount Vernon/Plankinton (58) placed third and also advanced to state.

Mobridge-Pollock’s Heidi Olson won the individual girls race, covering the 5,000-meter distance in 19:21. But then the Cubs came in waves after Olson.

Kinsey Evans (19:50) and Allison Hough (20:45) placed second and third, respectively.

“They push each other tremendously,” Chamberlain coach Holly Evans said. “It’s great competition. You couldn’t ask to have two more competitors to battle each other at practice and sometimes we have to separate them a little bit, but then sometimes it’s just good to have them compete with each other.”

Aine Graesser (20:51) and Kylah Biggins (21:01) captured fourth and fifth, respectively. Chamberlain’s Samantha Peppel (21:27) took eighth, while teammate Ella Phillips (21:34) placed ninth.

“We had all six of our runners in the top nine,” coach Evans said. “So we are going in sitting really well.”

Santiago, meanwhile, made up for not finishing last week’s Southeast South Dakota Conference meet at the same course. The junior pulled out of the conference race due to lightheadedness, leading to Watson winning it.

“I was a little nervous because last week me and him were head to head the whole race until I pulled out,” Santiago said. “I knew he was going to come out gunning.”

It was Santiago and Watson again duking it out for the region crown. But not before Santiago had a slow start out and immediately fell behind the pack.

“I kind of didn’t get a good push off at the beginning and I kind of got swallowed up and then I finally broke out of there and whatnot,” said Santiago, adding it was frustrating getting off to a slow start.

But he regrouped and took the lead, edging Watson by two seconds. Chamberlain’s Declan Tveit came in third place in 16:48.

“(Santiago) ran a smart race with the wind,” Evans said. “Right now we are not really worried about time-wise. We are about running a race and he ran a really smart race. He just used strategies and he finished hard.”

The state cross-country meet is Oct. 24 at Hart Ranch Camping Resort in Rapid City.

Girls results

Team results: 1. Chamberlain, 10; 2. Winner Area, 48; 3. Mount Vernon/Plankinton, 58; 4. Stanley County, 60; 5. Miller, 63.

Individual results (top 20): 1. Heidi Olson, Mobridge-Pollock, 19:21; 2. Kinsey Evans, Chamberlain, 19:50; 3. Allison Hough, Chamberlain, 20:45; 4. Aine Graesser, Chamberlain, 20:51; 5. Kylah Briggins, Chamberlain, 21:01; 6. Suri Schmidt, Mount Vernon/Plankinton, 21:08; 7. Sidda Schuyler, Winner Area, 21:17; 8. Samantha Peppel, Chamberlain, 21:27; 9. Ella Phillips, Chamberlain, 21:34; 10. Kaysen Magee, Stanley County, 21:36; 11. Sarah Fosheim, Stanley County, 21:52; 12. Gabby Werbel, Miller, 22:03; 13. Madeline Nye, Miller, 22:04; 14. Melanie Brozik, Winner Area, 22:12; 15. Aryn Meiners, Winner Area, 22:38; 16. Meagan Blare, Winner Area, 23:02; 17. Kyia Schmidt, Mount Vernon/Plankinton, 23:16; 18. Hallie Schmidt, Mount Vernon/Plankinton, 23:24; 19. Bailey Siedschlaw, Stanley County, 23:29; 20. Ellie Gates, Miller, 24:20.

Boys results

Team results: 1. Miller, 23; 2. Winner Area, 25; 3. Mobridge-Pollock, 35; 4. Mount Vernon/Plankinton, 65.

Individual results (top 20): 1. Dom Santiago, Chamberlain, 16:43; 2. Kade Watson, Winner Area, 16:45; 3. Declan Tveit, Chamberlain, 16:48; 4. Alex Schumacher, Miller, 17:09; 5. Pierce Baumberger, Miller, 17:24; 6. Joseph Laprath, Winner Area, 17:28; 7. Kylar Meek, Winner Area, 17:56; 8. Blaise Thompson, Mobridge-Pollock, 18:06; 9. Caden Gortmaker, Miller, 18:11; 10. Kamron Pearman, Mobridge-Pollock, 18:21; 11. Bryson Vetch, Mobridge-Pollock, 18:26; 12. Logan Tlam, Mount Vernon/Plankinton; 18:26; Kellan Hurd, Miller, 18:42; 14. Remington Ford, Movridge-Pollock, 18:50; 15. Kody Keller, Mobridge-Polock, 18:56; 16. Ethan Harrell, Miller, 19:21; 17. Evan Archambault, McLaughlin, 19:21; 18. Chaz Blotsky, Winner Area, 19:46; 19. Derrick Fletcher, Mount Vernon/Plankinton, 19:57; 20. Isaiah Gortmaker, Miller, 20:03.