came in the same way fromfifth.”

Clark finished second last

year, giving the Raiders thefirst teammates to go 1-2 inClass B since Summit’sMelinda and Nicole Zirbel in2001. They were also the firstteammates to go back-to-back as champions sinceHitchcock-Tulare’s ShannonBrenner and Missy Puffer in1990-91. They were also the

second and third Raiders towin titles, joining Emma Er-ickson (now Ladwig).

When Clark won, thefocus was not necessarily onher winning but on her finish-ing high enough to help theRaiders make the top fourteams. They finished secondto Ipswich, as they did again

last year.“Our goal was just to get

the team on the platform,”Buffington said. “When shewent by the mile mark, wethought she had a chance towin it.”

Nelson has an edge intheir internal competition, asshe is just focused on schooland running this fall. Clark isalso a member of Gayville-Volin’s volleyball team, whichis coming off a school-recordfor victories a year ago. ButClark said that her volleyballwork has helped her on thecross country course as well.

“It’s not too hard to keep inboth volleyball and crosscountry shape,” she said.“Our volleyball team runs amile before practice everyday, and we do a lot of sprints.

I still try to get in runs one ortwo times a week.”

Megan Hirsch and KeliaBarta, the Raiders’ third andfifth runners at state a yearago, also do thevolleyball/cross country dou-ble. In all, five of the 15 girlson the Raiders’ cross countryroster are on the GV varsityvolleyball squad.

Also, several of theRaiders’ cross country run-ners, including four of the topfive were on the the Gayville-Volin girls’ basketball teamthat was the first-ever Raiderteam to qualify for a statetournament.

“We have a lot of goodthings going on here rightnow,” Buffington said.

With two champions inthe fold, the goal remains the

same. The Raiders are stillchasing an Ipswich Tigersteams that boasts one of themost decorated young run-ners in state track history,Macy Heinz, and four otherrunners that finished in thetop 16 of the state crosscountry meet a year ago.

“To beat Ipswich, we’dneed to go 1-2-9. We went 1-2last year, and now our goal isstill 1-2-9,” Buffington said.“Will it happen this year? It’sa long shot, but next year(after two of Ipswich’s topfive graduate) it’s a closershot. But our goal is just tohave a chance.

“Most of the time you’renot trying to chase a dynasty.But that’s the team we’re try-ing to chase.”

And while both Clark andNelson would like to beat theother, they’re not going to doit at the expense of theirteam.

“We are just focused onthe team,” Nelson said. “Itdoesn’t matter who goes firstor second, it’s where theteam needs to be for us to fin-ish well. We’ll do our best sothe team can be its best.”

You can follow James D.Cimburek on Twitter at twit-ter.com/JCimburek. Discussthis story at www.yankton.net

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Alcester-HudsonCOACH: LeeAnn HaischVITALS: Class B, Region

3B, Tri-Valley ConferenceTOP PROSPECTS:

Kendra Jensen (8th), ToriRasmussen (8th)

Andes CentralCOACH: Larry LucasVITALS: Region 3BTOP PROSPECTS:

Tearanie Stotz (Sr.), LillianMcDermaid (Fr.)

AvonCOACH: Beth DykstraVITALS: Region 3BRETURNING LETTER-

WINNERS: Heidi Cap (Jr.),Kylen Swanson (So.), RachelBlaha (Sr.), Sammy Schyvers(So.), Hanna Reeves (So.)

TOP PROSPECT: EmilyHarms (7th)

BeresfordCOACH: Matt Coy ASSISTANT: Dawn Cog-

ginsVITALS: Region 3A,

Dakota XII ConferenceLAST YEAR: Beresford

was third at the conferencemeet, second at regions andsixth at state. Shelby Bickettgraduated from the squad.

RETURNING LETTER-WINNERS: Lexy Johnson(Sr.), Ashlynn Atwood (So.,11th at state), Caitlin Worth(So.), Hannah Ebert (Fr.) CaitSavey (Fr.)

TOP PROSPECTS:Molly McInnis (Sr.), JuliaMochel (Jr.), Kendra Schaap(So.), Tianna Schlup (Fr.),Grace Quartier (Fr.), KatieMochel (8th)

Bon HommeCOACH: Janet WagnerASSISTANT: Drew Koch VITALS: Region 3A,

Southeast South Dakota Con-ference

LAST YEAR: Ali Vicekgraduated from last year’ssquad.

RETURNING LETTER-WINNERS: Maddison Hajek(Jr., 20th at state), Paige Eddy(Fr.), Courtney Eddy (Jr.),Madison Hall (8th)

TOP PROSPECTS: Bai-ley Kortan (Fr.), ElizabethRettig (So.), Sawyer Goeden(6th)

CentervilleCOACH: Eric Hansen VITALS: Region 3B, Tri-

Valley ConferenceLAST YEAR: Centerville

lost two runners, RebeccaHybertson and Shannon O'-Malley.

TOP PROSPECT:Jaycee Knutson (7th)

Dakota ValleyCOACH: Tiffany

WendlingASSISTANT: Phil Breed

VITALS: Class A, Region3A, Dakota XII Conference

RETURNING LETTER-WINNERS: Marisa Schulz(So.), Sammy Voeltz (Jr.),Olivia Ohm (Sr.)

TOP PROSPECTS:Chrystal Ochoa (Sr.), JamieRipperda (Jr.), Alex Peters(Jr.), Olivia Ratley (So.), ErynSandwell (Fr.), Nichole Dial(Fr.), Erica Okina (8th)

Elk Point-JeffersonCOACH: Kelly HaberlingVITALS: Class A, Region

3A, Dakota XII ConferenceRETURNING LETTER-

WINNERS: Grace Boone(So.), Kylee Donnelly (So.),Josie Heeren (Jr.), MeghanSchenk (Sr.), Taylor Stark(Fr.), Bailey Weavill (Jr.)

TOP PROSPECTS: CalliDavis (7th), Caitlin Fornia(Jr.), Frederikke Harbo (Jr.),Emily Henze (7th), LyndseyKlunder (So.), Morgan Smith(So.), Robin Stark (7th)

Ethan-ParkstonCOACH: Jared Digmann

ASSISTANT: EricaAisenbrey

VITALS: Class A, Region3A, Southeast South DakotaConference

LAST YEAR: Ethan-Park-ston placed fifth in the statemeet, led by Taya Heisinger’s18th place finish. Lexy Leis-chner (29th), Jessica Endres(34th) and Patience Nesheim(42nd) also return, giving E-Pits top four state meet finish-ers of a year ago.

TOP PROSPECTS: TayaHeisinger (Jr.), Jena Thielen

(Jr.), Jayden Bormann (Fr.),Jessica Endres (Fr.), ChloeWegehaupt (Fr.), Lexy Leis-chner (8th), Mollie Miiller(8th), Patience Nesheim(8th), Jessica Bartscher (7th),Maddie Miiller (7th), JadaPlastow (7th), Erica Storm(7th), Ellie Weidenbach (7th),Sydney Wickersham (7th)

FreemanCOACH: Rory Hermsen VITALS: Region 3B, Corn-

belt ConferenceRETURNING LETTER-

WINNERS: Cailey Roth (Sr.),Rebecca Eberts (Jr.), ErikaSage (So.), Dayna Roth (8th),Hannah Eberts (8th)

TOP PROSPECTS: KarliMaske (Fr.), Journey Mehlhaf(8th), Sarah Wipf (8th), KaileyJacobsen (8th), Emmarie Ed-wards (7th), Isabel Sayler (7th)

Freeman Academy COACH: Suzanne Ko-

ernerVITALS: Region 3B, Tri-

Valley ConferenceRETURNING LETTER-

WINNNERS: Clara Koerner(Sr.)

TOP PROSPECT: DarsieEslinger (Jr.)

Gayville-VolinCOACH: Larry BuffingtonASSISTANTS: Gene Bor-

mann, Matt MalloyVITALS: Region 3B, Tri-

Valley ConferenceLAST YEAR: Gayville-

Volin won the conferencemeet, and was runner-up inthe Region 3B and State Bmeets. Laura Nelson won thestate individual title, withteammate Genevieve Clarksecond.

RETURNING LETTER-WINNERS: Genevieve Clark(Jr.), Laura Nelson (So.),Megan Hirsch (So.), LannyClark (Fr.), Kelia Barta (Sr.),Viola Ishmael (Fr.), HannahRolfs (Jr.), Heather Maier (8th)

TOP PROSPECTS:Meghan Buckman (Fr.), SarahBuckman (Fr.), Jayden Engen(Fr.), Ashley Emmick (8th),Tristin Gunderson (8th),Abbey Emmick (7th)

S . D. G I R L S ’ C RO S S C O U N T RY

Off To The Races (2013 Bon Homme Invitational)

Gayville-Volin’s Genevieve Clark (left) and Laura Nelson (right)

SD GIRLS XC | PAGE 3B