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| Hot Springs senior Emily Mason competes during last month’s Hot Springs Invitational. Brett Nachtigall/Hot Springs Star |
Bison boys XC place third in BHC
CUSTER - Last Thursday’s BHC meet held at Rocky Knolls Golf Course in Custer saw Tobie Spitzer finish the day in fifth place, with another best time in his career. His effort led the Hot Springs boys’ varsity to a third-place finish in the conference meet. This has definitely been a breakout season for Tobie; he is really just finding out what kind of runner he can be.
Tobie finished the course in a time of 18:20, and with the region meet approaching he will be a contender for a top-ten finish. Dan Watson placed ninth (19:01) with Zack Vekovius 22nd (20:42), Jake Novotny 28th (21:10) and Jake Derrick 34th (23:27).
Hot Springs totaled 61 points, finishing behind Douglas with 26 and Hill City with 41, but the real excitement came when the final points were added up and the difference between 3rd and 5th places was only two points. We didn't do the job we did last week in Lead, but due to the conditions, I thought we ran tough.
The girls’ varsity was again led by Natalie Bahr with an 11th place finish (17:48), Toni Wingler in 20th position (19:02), Emily Mason 23rd (19:39), Mallory Oberpriller 27th (20:21) and Jessa Birkholt 28th (20:22). The girls ran well as far as our placing was concerned, a little slower in times from what we had run in Lead last week.
Jessa Birkholt did improve her time, running her second race on the varsity squad. Jessa is getting to be more of a competitor. It is great to watch her develop as a long-distance runner.
The JV boys’ and girls’ races were run together and the most pleasant surprise of the day came from Morgan Smart, finishing third in a time of 18:55. Morgan competed earlier in the year, running the 3000-meter middle school race and having some problems, but she looked really good through most of the 4000-meter JV race; she really had it going today. Ann Bieroth, Alan Rutan and Gabe Davilia competed the JV race, each runner in their own right running well.
This is the largest group of kids that we have had the pleasure to coach in the time that I have been the head coach, if we can keep these kids out, next season should be really exciting.
Hopefully we will add a few more to future squads and not have to deal with the injuries but that is just a part of athletics. The region meet will be held at the Tomahawk Golf Course south of Lead on Friday, beginning with the girls’ varsity at noon followed by the boys’ race at 12:30 p.m.
The Hot Springs Team will be running on the track this coming Saturday doing our annual fund raiser. The fund raiser includes the Dave Scott Memorial Scholarship ($200 to any senior cross country athlete continuing their education), t-shirts, sweats, uniforms or any needs our athletes may need throughout the season.