Late push propels Mitchell Christian's Silas Holdeman to state title in Class B boys 3,200-meter run
May 24—SIOUX FALLS — Silas Holdeman had a plan and executed it to perfection.
The Mitchell Christian freshman, who won the Class B boys cross country championship last fall, bided his time before making a late push for the lead. Once he had it, Holdeman never looked back, cruising to the Class B boys 3,200-meter run state title in a personal-record time of 9 minutes, 55.62 seconds, on Friday morning at Howard Wood Field.
"I've been planning this race out for a while with my coach," Holdeman said. "I felt good the whole race, so I knew those last two laps, I wanted to kick it in. That was my plan, and I went out there and pushed myself to it, but I'll continue to give God the glory."
For the first six laps of the eight-lap race, Holdeman, who owned the No. 2 seed time entering the race, was content to hover between third and fifth place as the runners battled a stiff west wind upward of 20 miles per hour. The plan was to stick close to the Freeman Academy/Marion pair of Finley McConniel and Tavin Schroeder, familiar competitors both on the track and during the cross country season who owned the No. 1 and No. 3-seeded times, respectively.
"I knew Finley and Tavin were going to be up there with me, so I was going to let them push me," Holdeman said. "I kind of wanted to pace with Finley since he was the No. 1 seed, and he went out and led most of the way."
With 800 meters to go, Holdeman made his move, overtaking McConniel and gaining a lead he did not relinquish. To start the final lap, Schroeder also made a move, passing his teammate to give chase to Holdeman. But Holdeman saved energy for a final push of his own, keeping the Bearcat duo in the rearview and opening up a small cushion before he crossed the finish line with the top time of any Class B athlete this season.
"I was kind of surprised," Holdeman said. "I didn't know I had that in me."
Schroeder finished as runner-up in 9 minutes, 57.72 seconds, with McConniel third in 9:59.21. Philip's Wakely Burns (10:02.65) took fourth place, followed up by Potter County's Nicholas Schlachter (10:11.01), Gregory's Luke Barreto (10:11.44), Philip's Baylor Burns (10:15.94) and Colome's Joseph Laprath (10:21.50).
Holdeman's Mitchell Christian teammate Luke Mentele (10:22.43) finished just off the podium in ninth place, while Joseph Tegethoff, a third Golden Eagle in the 24-runner field, was 18th overall in 11:03.11. The trio also combined with Sawyer Holdeman to take eighth place in the 4x800-meter relay on Thursday.
Holdeman was also the No. 2 seed in the Class B boys 800-meter run on Friday, but was tripped up while turning onto the home straightaway approximately 300 meters into the race, which led to a 21st-place finish.
Holdeman is the No. 1 seed in the Class B boys 1,600-meter run, a race slated for Saturday morning.
