Five things we've learned about Watertown's cross country teams in 2022
The calendar is getting ready to turn to October, which means crunch time is just around the corner for the Watertown High School cross country teams.
The Arrows made their only home appearance of the season Thursday by hosting the Watoma Invitational at Cattail Crossing Golf Course and have only three meets remaining, starting with the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Brookings and ending with the state Class AA meet on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Broadland Creek Golf Course in Huron.
Here's five things we've learned so far about Watertown's squads.
This was no homecoming week dud for the Arrows
Most of the Watertown High School fall coaches, namely those in team sports, know homecoming week can be a distraction that sometimes leads to subpar performers by the Arrows.
That really wasn't the case for the Arrow runners on Thursday. Watertown finished fifth out of nine teams in the girls division with a score of 114, finishing only one point behind Aberdeen Central in fourth. Brandon Valley won the meet with a score of 34, followed by Harrisburg at 60 and Sioux Falls O'Gorman 73.
The Arrow boys finished eighth out of nine teams with a score of 189. Brandon Valley won the boys division with a score of 74. Sioux Falls Roosevelt took second at 94 and Pierre third at 101.
Both Watertown teams are young and continue to show improvement. That was the case again Thursday.
"We may not be seeing it in the standings, but I'm pretty pleased with both the boys and girls," said Watertown head cross country coach Jenn McElroy. "Both teams are seeing some gains and all of runners are running their best times as the season winds down."
Thursday's varsity 5,000-meter races featured 162 runners (89 boys and 73 girls). Junior varsity and junior high races also were held, pushing the total number of entrants to 525.
Sophomore Libby Castelli of Sioux Falls O'Gorman won the varsity girls' 5,000 in 17:59.07 and was followed across the finish line by junior teammate Ruth Pardy (18:37.69). Freshman Addison Scholten, one of six Brandon Valley runners to finish in the top 11, was third in 18:46.28.
Harrisburg senior Cashton Johnson won the boys' race in 16:06.54, followed by juniors Jared Lutmer of Pierre (16:26.86) and Jack Castelli of O'Gorman (17:02.87).
There's a mix of old and young working for Watertown's girls team
The Arrow girls showed some progress last fall by placing fourth in the ESD and 10th in the state and are holding their own again this fall.
Eight Watertown runners competed on Thursday and the group included senior Emma List (15th, 21:05.30); junior Victoria Smith (21st, 21:21.35); sophomores Isabella Horning (44th, 22:35.81), Elizabeth Rieffenberger (71st, 27:01.44) and Ava Jensen (73rd, 28:25.39); eighth-graders Kate McElroy (ninth, 20:23.27) and Grace List (53rd, 23:04.18); and seventh-grader Olivia Anderson (31st, 21:54.79).
McElroy, the coach's daughter, was the team's best runner last fall and has again led the way this fall. Smith has also ran well and coach McElroy says Emma List is back to running as well as she did early in her career. Anderson has also had a strong debut season.
"Emma has stepped up as a senior this season and provided good leadership," said Coach McElroy. "Victoria has also done a good job of leading our kids in general."
Watertown's boys are also young and showing progress
It's not unusual in the sport of cross country to see a number of young burst onto the scene and enjoy varsity success as junior high runners. It doesn't play out quite the same way for the boys, who just have to keep getting stronger in order to compete at the top level.
Watertown's boys competed 10 runners on Thursday, only three of which were upperclassmen. The group included senior Briley Martin (66th, 19:21.40); juniors Ben Peterson (84th, 20:08.76) and Ayden Steiner (87th, 20:27.88); sophomores Bayley Steiner (47th, 18:49.16) and Gabe List (68th, 19:23.94); freshmen Ty Sullivan (ninth, 17:22.92), Isaiah Norton (79th, 19:58.60) and Tucker Lunde (83rd, 20:06.05); and eighth-graders Dane Stark (40th, 18:38.17) and Chris Bevers (77th, 19:52.51).
Sullivan has again been the team's best runner, followed by Stark and Bayley Steiner.
"Of course, Ty has been our best runner. He's doing a great job again this year," said McElroy.
Watertown's boys finished seventh in the ESD and 17th in the state meet last fall.
Things don't turn around over night
While it's true that Watertown has won only one state cross country title (2001 Class AA girls) in history, the Arrows do have a pretty lengthy tradition of success both individually and in team competition. The Arrow girls have six state runner-up finishes and the boys three, the last coming in 1986. Jessica Fox (a three-time champion who won her final title in 1999) and Phillip Davis (who won in 1997) are the last individual state champions.
Still, since winning the state title in 2001, this century hasn't been kind to the Arrows and most ESD programs. Sioux Falls schools won every state Class AA boys title from 2010 through 2020 before Rapid City Stevens won last fall. Nine of the last 10 state Class AA girls' titles have been won by Sioux Falls or Rapid City schools and the other came from Brandon Valley, which is also from the metro area.
McElroy's goal is to make the Arrows relevant again.
"Success breeds success, that's what I keep telling them," she said. "Cross country has never been a glorious sport, but it's good to see the kids making some noise."
Aiming for a strong finish
The Watertown runners, like runners across the state, are certainly aiming for a strong finish to the season.
McElroy feels the Arrow girls have a good shot to finish in the top half of the ESD and she's trying to get them to believe they've got a chance to get to the awards stand (top six teams) at the state meet. The Arrow boys likely will face a bigger challenge, but there's still room for a bright future.
"The girls for sure have a shot at the top half in the conference and we're also hoping to get some girls into medal contention (top 15 for All-ESD)," said McElroy.
"The boys are likely to be in the middle or below in the conference but we've got a lot of new varsity runners."
Watertown has most of next week off to prepare for the conference meet and will head to Huron the following week for a meet on Thursday, Oct. 13 that will also be held at Broadland Creek, the same course that will be used for the state meet on Oct. 22.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Young squads making progress with 2022 season winding down.
