SIOUX FALLS-For Lyman's Korder Cropsey, the final race of his prep career will be a run he'll never forget.
He went out a state champion.
The Raiders' senior ran a 22.86 200-meter dash, good enough to win the Class B boys state championship by nearly a half-second and culminating five years of hard work with the ultimate reward.
"It's an incredible feeling," he said. "It's been a lot of hard work. I've been running since I was in eighth grade and this has always been the goal. It's a pretty sweet way to end my career at Lyman."
Cropsey finished fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.41) and was sixth in the 400-meter dash (51.88) but he always believed the 200 would be his best event. On Saturday, it was.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I had run a lot of 400s (in practice), and so I knew I'd be ready for the 200s and I felt strong," Cropsey said. "In the past, I'd run a lot of 800s and I'd be strong for the 400, so I knew that if I was strong for the event, I would have a good performance."
Cropsey carried a time of 23.13 preliminary time from Friday into Saturday's final and then he bettered it. The Lyman standout-wearing his signature red sunglasses-led coming off the turn and the lead was never in doubt. Rapid City Christian's Timothy Ward finished in second place
"I got off to a good start," he said. "When I came off the curve, I knew I was in good shape and it was a matter of running my best."
And it was a solid weekend for the Raiders as a whole, finishing tied for third place as a team. Cropsey-who is from Presho-said it meant a lot to him that his success could also be shared with the team.
"I couldn't ask for a better team and better teammates," he said. "We've put in a lot of time together and not that the meets aren't fun but I'm really going to miss all of time we've spent together in practice. That's been my favorite part of being on the team."
Cropsey's running career will continue at Division II South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where he's planning on running many of the same sprints he ran for the Raiders. He plans to study engineering, and perhaps metallurgical engineering, which transforms mineral resources into alloys and metals. On the track, Cropsey is exciting to keep running.
"Hopefully, it can carry over," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how well I can do."
