SLAYTON -- Running on the challenging hills of the Slayton Country Club on Monday, the Adrian Dragons -- in dominating fashion -- won their fourth consecutive Red Rock Conference boys' cross country championship.
Placing four runners in the top five, and all five scorers in the top seven, AHS won the title by 37 points with an impressive score of 19 (1-2-4-5-7).
Leading the victory was the repeat individual championship performance of junior Nate Reyne, who pulled away from classmate Jordan Pater in the final 1,000 meters and clocked a time of 17:19.
"I like this course," said Reyne after winning the fifth race of his varsity career. "The hills make your legs burn a little, but the flat parts are nice, fast and scenic."
Pater, who clocked a time of 17:47 over the 5,000-meter course and improved from third last year to second this time, said that the three trips up the long hill were more difficult than trekking up the steep hill (by the clubhouse) twice.
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"The gradual long hill is really tiring," Pater said. "That stretch makes this course tough."
Halden Van Wyhe finished third (17:55), leading Hills-Beaver Creek/Ellsworth to a conference runner-up trophy.
The Patriots scored 56 points (3-11-12-14-16), outrunning Murray County Central (68) and Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin (98).
Southwest Christian and Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central were each incomplete.
Reisdorfer, Henning,
Springman seal deal
While the one-two punch of Reyne and Pater was crucial to Adrian's dominance, the finishes of seniors Chris Reisdorfer (18:03), Kyle Henning (18:05) and Brett Springman (18:27) in places four, five and seven, respectively, sealed the AHS victory.
"The guys are focused and running with intensity as we approach the end of the season," declared Dragon head coach Doug Petersen. "All of our guys ran super today, and Kyle Henning has really been coming on in the recent meets -- getting fifth in the conference is a great accomplishment."
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Even Adrian's sixth and seventh runners -- Zach Runia and Jase Pater -- broke 19 minutes and finished in the top 11.
Runia earned all-conference honors, placing 10th with a time of 18:47, while Pater, just a freshman, was a step behind, finishing 11th, clocked at 18:48.
MCC's Mark Bau (18:20) ran one of his best races of the season and earned the sixth-place medal, and fellow Rebel senior Mitchell Hart (18:35) outkicked SW Christian's Corey Vis (18:39) for eighth.
Tyler Paulsen (19:08) and Dustin Verhey (19:14) helped H-BC/E get second with their 12th- and 13th-place respective finishes.
Joshua Bobb (19:22) was 14th, followed in the top 20 by ML/B-O's Michael Balis (19:24), H-BC/E's Brent Kramer (19:29), MCC's Schuyler Canfield (19:30), HBC/E's Ryan Weitgenant (19:42), ML/B-O's Adam Blomgren (19:44) and HBC/E's Luke Werner (19:46).
Three other Adrian runners -- Justin Feit (19:18), Tony Reisdorfer (19:25) and Ethan Olson (19:59) -- ran the course under 20 minutes (giving AHS a total of 10 to do so) and finished 1-2-3 in the junior varsity division to lead the Dragons (22 points) to that team title too.
