Heat hampers runners

Sam Cunningham has been steadily climbing into the ranks of Newcastle’s all-time great distance runners, but his finish Friday at the Hart Ranch Invitational may have meant just a little bit more.

The Dogie senior turned the tables on Douglas’ Wyatt Balliew, who had beaten him a couple of weeks earlier at Belle Fourche, by nipping him at the line for seventh place in one of the biggest and most competitive meets of the season. 

“That was fun because Wyatt beat him in Belle Fourche,” Dogie head coach Kathy Beehler said. 

Cunningham crossed in 16 minutes, 42.44 seconds, just four-hundredths of a second ahead of Balliew, to finish among the top 10 in a massive field that included teams from Rapid City Stevens, Sheridan, Spearfish, Laramie and several other large-school powers.

“He was ranked 12th going in and finished seventh, so that was a plus,” Beehler said. She added that Cunningham was 45 seconds faster than he had been on the same course last year, and he was able to step up his game in spite of unfavorable weather conditions.

“It was hot,” Beehler said. “It was at least 80 degrees. It was dry and there were 30-mile-per-hour winds.” 

She noted that some athletes from other teams really struggled with the heat and didn’t even finish, but Cunningham showed he is still trending in the right direction. His seventh-place effort kept him in front of several of the best runners from neighboring states and marked another strong showing as he looks ahead to October.

Newcastle’s boys got another steady run from senior Archer Ohnstad, who placed 86th in 20:03.32, while Lane Carter finished 103rd in 21:09.80, which was only two seconds slower than his previous best race. 

Though the Dogies couldn’t field a full varsity squad, their younger runners took advantage of the junior varsity race to keep trimming times.

“We had some drops, so that was good,” Beehler said. She pointed to personal records for Jaden McGuire and Dylan Conley and a breakthrough for freshman Liam Novak. 

“Liam ran two minutes faster than his last PR this year,” she said.

Junior Jaden McGuire ran one of his best efforts of the season, finishing 32nd in 20:21.95. Classmate Lucas Scribner crossed 61st in 21:57.76. Sophomore Dylan Conley was 71st at 22:26.96, and Novak clocked a personal-best 23:17.32 to round out Newcastle’s contingent.

On the girls’ side, junior Hollie Swentesky led Newcastle’s varsity with an 84th-place finish in 25:45.62. 

“Holly ran right where she has been running,” Beehler said. She noted the girls had big drops from Belle Fourche to Moorcroft but didn’t match those drops at Hart Ranch.

“None of the girls ran better than they have in other meets,” Beehler said. “They had big drops from Belle Fourche to Moorcroft, but this meet they didn’t.”

She noted that athletes will often hit a plateau at this time of year.

“You can’t drop every week,” Beehler explained. “If you don’t PR, it is probably because you’re working hard that week and it has taken a toll on your body.”

The coach stressed that the level of competition and the size of the fields also played a role.

 “We’re going to big meets, and we run against pretty big schools,” she said. “There are a lot of runners out there, and it is a big field, and you sometimes get lost in that shuffle. ”

“Some weeks it can be easy to worry about the numbers, but you just need to go run your race,” she added, encouraging her athletes to be 5 meters faster and move up five to 10 spots whenever they can. 

“But the opposite is also true, and all of a sudden you can be 10 places down in a matter of seconds,” she cautioned.

Despite the midseason plateau, Beehler said the team is still trending in the right direction. 

“We can’t PR every week, but we need to PR some weeks,” she said, noting that the team is looking ahead to this Thursday’s meet at Sturgis, hoping to start another PR parade there. The following week Newcastle will take on a trail run around Devil’s Tower, which will present a different challenge entirely.

“I’ve never done that, but it should be fun,” Beehler said.

Varsity Boys

7 Sam Cunningham 16:42.44
86 Archer Ohnstad 20:03.32
103 Lane Carter 21:09.80

Junior Varsity Boys

32 Jaden McGuire 20:21.95
61 Lucas Scribner 21:57.76
71 Dylan Conley 22:26.96
86 Liam Novak 23:17.32

Varsity Girls

84 Hollie Swentesky 25:45.62

Junior Varsity Girls

36 Lillian Lopez 28:09.95
37 Ashlyn Leonard 28:16.98
45 Cheyanne Bloom 30:20.58
50 Kaitlyn Blumenthal 31:13.96
20 Chanel Hanson 28:27.23