Conlon places second, Black Hills State sweeps DAC meet

Not even an illness could slow down Katie Conlon too much.

The Jamestown College junior was under the weather all week, but still had enough in the tank to place second at the Dakota Athletic Conference meet at Hillcrest Golf Course Friday afternoon.

Conlon placed second in a time of 18:44 to lead the Jimmies to a second-place team finish.

“She had her only bad workout of the season on Tuesday. She was wheezing and could hardly get through it, so considering how sick she was earlier in the week, it was a pretty impressive performance,” said JC women’s coach Jim Clark. “She got a cold at the wrong time, but to get second to an All-American is not a bad thing.”

Black Hills State’s Erin Curran repeated as the conference champion, finishing 19 seconds better than Conlon.

“Katie got the most out of herself she could considering the circumstances,” Clark said.

Times were down across the board on Friday.

Black Hills State easily won the team title with 29 points, extending their conference winning streak to six. The Jimmies edged Minot State for second, 72-80.

The winning team and the top five runners not from Black Hills State advance to the national meet, meaning Conlon will be joined by freshman Aleona Reyes, who was ninth in a time of 19:20.

“To make it in the top 10 against pretty good competition is pretty impressive,” Clark said of Reyes.

Madey Hornung was the third JC runner across in 17th (20:25). Cambrya Belter was 17th, Ashleigh Anderson 25th, Rachel Bickford 28th and Mallory Souder 30th. Bernie Bachel (35th) and Suzy Avey (40th) also ran.

“I was happy with the way the girls ran. They left it on the course,” Clark said. “Nobody felt like they ran a terrible race. They fought all the way through.”

Nationals are Nov. 20 in Vancouver, Wash.

The JC men won’t have anyone going, but considering the injuries and lack of depth the team has, coach Ed Crawford was pleased with the results.

The Jimmies placed fifth out of seven, finishing ahead of Valley City State and Dickinson State.

“We’ve come a long ways this year. I was real pleased with the development of our guys,” said JC men’s coach Ed Crawford. “Everyone is back next year and we add J.J. Koerber. We feel pretty good about the direction we’re going as a program.”

Kyle Heim led the Jimmies on Friday, crossing 23rd (28:30) despite a sore knee.

“It was a real surprise how well Kyle ran. He’s been struggling and hardly had run in two weeks,” Crawford said. “He went out there and gave a good, solid effort.”

Nathan Christensen was 26th for the Jimmies and freshman Spencer Kamoni was 28th despite battling diarrhea during the race.

“Spencer’s a tough kid. He ran the best race he could,” Crawford said.

David Londe came in 37th and Kendall Wiltzen 48th despite a bout with bronchitis in recent weeks.

Caleb Belter (51st), Bob Heinzen (35th) and Brandon Gray (54th) also ran for the Jimmies.

“We’ve had a tough time with sicknesses and injuries during the latter part of the season, and with our lack of depth that made it tough,” Crawford said. “But all things considered we made good strides this season that hopefully we can carry over into the future.”

The top eight finishers were from Dakota State and Black Hills State.

Devon Berkness won the race in 26:20, but Black Hills State took the team title. Berkness led Dakota State to second, 26-50.

The Yellow Jackets top five crossed 2-4-5-7-8.

Dakota Athletic Conference Meet

At Hillcrest Golf Course

Women

Team results

1, Black Hills State 29; 2, Jamestown College 72; 3, Minot State 80; 4, Dickinson State 104; 5, South Dakota Mines 107; 6, Dakota State 139.

Individual results

1, Erin Curran, BHSU, 18:25; 2, Katie Conlon, JC, 18:44; 3, Breyette Schall, MSU, 18:54; 4, Courtney Schall, MSU, 18:55; 5, Courtney Dickson, BHSU, 19:01; 6, Leigh Anne Whiteside, BHSU, 19:08; 7, Lela Carpenter, BHSU, 19:14; 8, Stephanie Warnke, DaSU, 19:17; 9, Aleona Reyes, JC, 19:20; 10, Brooke Wells, BHSU, 19:24; 11, Abi Bever, BHSU, 19:34; 12, Gladys Rotich, DiSU, 19:39; 13, Tina Marie Soto, DiSU, 19:55; 14, Vanessa Esquivel, DiSU, 20:04; 15, Brittney Hovdenes, SDM, 20:12; 16, Anna Yanchek, BHSU, 20:16; 17, Madey Hornung, JC, 20:25; 18, Katelyn Kieffer, SDM, 20:33; 19, Teresa Klarenbeek, BHSU, 20:35; 20, Michelle Walling, MSU, 20:37.

21, Danyka Deno, SDM, 20:46; 22, Cambrya Belter, JC, 20:50; 23, Samantha Drealan, DaSU, 20:51; 24, Erica Gajda, BHSU, 20:54; 25, Ashleigh Anderson, JC, 21:00; 26, Maila Lucht, MSU, 21:08; 27, Kendra Crisman, SDM, 21:11; 28, Rachel Bickford, JC, 21:12; 29, Robyn Rosechandler, BHSU, 21:16; 30, Mallory Souder, JC, 21:21; 31, Megan Auch, DiSU, 21:39; 32, Alexis Godeke, SDM, 21:40; 33, Alexa Hornecker, MSU, 21:54; 34, Mirelys Pizarro, MSU, 22:29; 35, Bernie Bachel, JC, 22:51; 36, Erin Leier, VCSU, 23:03; 37, Kendall Donegan, SDM, 23:16; 38, Stephanie Deutsch, MSU, 23:24; 39, Amanda McConnell, SDM, 23:29; 40, Suzy Avey, JC, 23:36.

41, Carissa Holtrop, DaSU, 23:54; 42, Summer Bronson, DaSU, 24:25; 43, Ashley Kassenborg, VCSU, 24:29; 44, Lindsay Kirby, SDM, 24:44; 45, Sam Pounds, DiSU, 25:07; 46, Sara Schultz, DaSU, 25:12; 47, Nicole Jurrens, DaSU, 25:13; 48, Jamie Swetalla, DiSU, 25:33; 49, Jeni Von Bank, VCSU, 25:55; 50, Erika Nowack, DiSU, 29:31.

Men

Team results

1, Black Hills State 26; 2, Dakota State 50; 3, South Dakota Mines 89; 4, Minot State 92; 5, Jamestown College 144; 6, Valley City State 155; 7, Dickinson State 184.

Individual results

1, Devon Berkness, DaSU, 26:20; 2, Jed Morgan, BHSU, 26:29; 3, Andy Coy, DaSU, 26:31; 4, Laine Parish, BHSU, 26:37; 5, Neil Long, BHSU, 26:41; 6, Matt Fideler, DaSU, 26:57; 7, K.C. Fiedler, BHSU, 27:03; 8, Craig Leavitt, BHSU, 27:11; 9, Thomas Everett, SDM, 27:15; 10, Mitch Kraft, BHSU, 27:29; 11, Marc Whirlwind Soldier, BHSU, 27:33; 12, Carlos Hernandez, MSU, 27:36; 13, Seth Ulvestad, BHSU, 27:56; 14, Brandon Velasquez, MSU, 28:02; 15, Spencer Ruebke, VCSU, 28:09; 16, Lucas Fried, SDM, 28:13; 17, Cory Meza, MSU, 28:17; 18, Matt Pike, SDM, 28:19; 19, Clint Lewis, DaSU, 28:21; 20, Brock Mickelsen, BHSU, 28:23.

21, Clay Armstrong, MSU, 28:24; 22, Blake James, SDM, 28:27; 23, Kyle Heim, JC, 28:30; 24, Thomas Kjerengtroen, DaSU, 28:36; 25, Andrew Reichenberger, VCSU, 28:38; 26, Nathan Christensen, JC, 28:44; 27, Michael Hoffman, DaSU, 28:44; 28, Spencer Kamoni, JC, 28:49; 29, Edina Chelashaw, DiSU, 28:56; 30, Seth Russell, SDM, 29:01.

31, Mark Wilcox, BHSU, 29:12; 32, Tyler Nack, SDM, 29:25; 33, John Bintliff, DaSU, 29:28; 34, Austin Barnard, SDM, 29:29; 35, Ryan Perry, MSU, 29:36; 36, Andrew Manning, DaSU, 29:46; 37, David Londe, 29:46; 38, Max Boeckel, MSU, 29:48; 39, Kace Groff, DaSU, 29:48; 40, Dustin Sandbak, DiSU, 29:57; 41, Zeb Johnson, SDM, 30:07; 42, Chris Gill, DiSU, 30:14; 43, Andy Quenzer, DaSU, 30:26; 44, Wayne Engelhard, VCSU, 30:35; 45, Richard Wright, VCSU, 30:39; 46, Joseph Deng, SDM, 30:40; 47, Brett Szafarski, MSU, 30:46; 48, Kendall Wiltzen, JC, 30:49; 49, Keith Huffman, DaSU, 30:59; 50, Wyatt Casey, DiSU, 31:55.

51, Caleb Belter, JC, 32:33; 52, Tanner Hovland, VCSU, 32:45; 53, Bob Heinzen, JC, 34:43; 54, Brandon Gray, JC, 36:43; 55, Micah Morrill, DiSU, 42:44.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: cross country, sports, jimmies