Quality, quantity evident on Trojan cross country teams – Daily Globe

“We have such good kids,” declares WHS head coach Cory Smidt, himself a former football player and wrestler who also excelled in track and field at Pipestone Area High School in the 1990s before participating in athletics at Dakota State University in Madison, S.D. “Most of our runners are very self-motivated and have really put in the work in the summer, running lots of miles by themselves or with teammates.”

The Trojans open the 2019 season this morning at the annual Paul Metcalf Invitational on the challenging hills of the Mountain Lake Golf Course. The huge early-season meet, which usually features at least a dozen teams, has its first race (the varsity girls’ 5,000-meter event) scheduled for a 10 a.m. start time.

“Our varsity boys are the two-time defending team champions at Mountain Lake,” says Smidt. “We look forward to the challenge of a three-peat and we know our guys are ready to compete and race hard after putting in so many miles on their own all summer long. Now they want to show what they can do against other good runners.”

Leading the Trojans are a pair of top-notch senior veterans who have each enjoyed much success in both cross country (in the fall) and on the track (in the spring).

Adam Koller has qualified two years in a row for the state Class AA cross country meet, something that is accomplished by only an elite few. After finishing sixth at Mountain Lake two years ago, Koller impressively won last year’s race in the Trojans’ first meet of the season.

Christian Lietz has been a consistent front runner for the Trojans each of the last two falls. He finished a strong third at Mountain Lake as a sophomore in 2017 and placed seventh last year, helping the Trojans claim a repeat team title with 61 points.

“Adam and Christian give us a pair of exceptional lead runners,” praised Smidt about his two senior aces. “With them each getting a low finish number, we really only have to count three higher scores.”

With a total of 38 boys, grades 7-12 on the current roster, the Trojan boys have plenty of intra-squad competition to back up the abilities of Koller and Lietz.

Among the top contenders are junior Jordan Meledez, freshman Mikele Walu, senior Bryan Rameriz, sophomore Alec Langerud and senior Michael Schneider, along with freshmen Micah Truesdell, Ofbeka Morke, Charlie Brands and Alejandro Bernel. Eighth-graders Mathias Noble, Lance Gordon and Zack Hayenga have also shown a lot of potential in early-season workouts.

Smidt estimates that Koller, Lietz and Meledez each probably ran between 50-75 miles every week all summer long.

“Your fall races are really won in the summer,” exclaimed the Trojan coach.

On the girls’ side, a total of 26 runners are currently participating in practices for the Trojans, who also return a good share of proven varsity-level performers — but, perhaps, without the front-running capability of Lietz or Koller.

Senior Sena Uli, juniors Madison Schaeffer and Maranda Thier, along with sophomore Jenna Hoffman, may be the four top runners for the Trojan girls and their order of finish is likely to change from meet to meet.

“We will have good competition among our lead girls,” summed up Smidt. “They, too, have worked hard this summer and are always striving to improve and become better cross country runners.”

Juniors Liz Spiegelhoff and Nedoh Gyi return with varsity experience. Both veterans will likely challenge for a top-seven varsity position, as will eighth-grader Marisa Thier, sophomore Nicole Wede and senior Madison Bruns, among others.

“Plus, we have a real good group of seventh and eighth graders,” Smidt declared. “Girls can become quite good young, so we may have some nice surprises as the season progresses.”

The Trojans will host their annual Turkey Trot Invitational at the Prairie View Course on Thursday, September 12.

“The Turkey Trot is a great event on a true cross country course,” concluded Smidt. “We want to have our kids ready to race well at our home meet.”