Rosholt's Harley Hanson, De Smet's George Mollner and Milbank's Brent Wherry lead the pack
Editor's Note: Sports writer Roger Merriam is compiling a "20 Favorites" series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December 1984. The series is about northeastern South Dakota athletes, but some played at colleges all over the state and others have moved to other areas.
Hope you enjoyed the "30 Favorites" coaches story that came out during Thanksgiving week and today is the day to look at some of the top area Class A and B boys' cross country runners since I arrived at the Public Opinion in December of 1984.
Don't worry, there's plenty more to come. I have planned stories for Watertown boys cross country, area Class A-B and Watertown girls and boys track, area and Watertown gymnastics, Watertown boys and girls soccer, area and Watertown boys and girls golfers along some of the top Great Plains Lutheran athletes, maybe more.
Some may wait until spring or even summer, but they're coming. As they say, stay tuned. Up next will be Watertown High School's boys cross country runners.
For now, let's take a look at those Class A-B boys cross country runners.
20. Others
There have been many runners who were at least two-time state medalists like Riley Benning of Estelline-Hendricks (2019-20), Adam Krause of Deuel (2010-11), Mitch Prouty of Clark-Willow Lake (2011-2012), Lance Cundy (2006-07) and Paul Bindert of De Smet (2007-08), Eric Peterson of Estelline (2007-2008), Matt Peterson of Estelline (2006-07), Kyle Monteith of Bristol (2002-03), Evan Fonseca of Arlington (2021-22), Tyler Furman of Britton-Hecla (2002-03), Jeff Bierschbach of Milbank (1996-97) and Josh Jakober (2004-05) and Paul Kanzenbach of Great Plains Lutheran (2001-02), along with what could be a couple of others I'm failing to list because I can't read my research notes properly.
19. Scott Sorkness, South Shore
One of the beauties of research projects such as these is that you are often reminded of things you forgot about it and even just learned something you didn't know. Either way, South Shore had a pretty solid boys' cross country program in the early 1990s (maybe even before and after).
Sorkness medaled three times in the State B meet (14th in 1990 and 11th in both 1991 and 1992).
18. Ricky Berndt, Deuel
Berndt is one of the few two-time state medalists to make the list, but there's a couple of reasons for that. One is recent bias (he graduated in 2023) and the other is improvement.
After taking 56th in the state Class A cross country meet at a sophomore in 2020, the five-time state qualifier leaped to 17th as a junior in 2021 and 12th as a senior in 2022.
17. Michael Meyer, Waverly-South Shore
OK, now we know South Shore's program continued to thrive after formed a coop with Waverly around the turn of the century. Meyer placed 16th in the state B meet in 2000, 17th in 2001 and 12th in 2002.
The Coyotes took third as a team in 2002 and seventh in 2001.
20 Favorites: Links to the stories highlighting the best northeastern South Dakota athletes since 1984
16. Kaleb Foltz, Tri-State
The Rosholt kid admitted to me at the state track meet a couple of years back that he was well aware of Harley Hanson (more on him later).
There's a good chance that we could call Foltz the best boys' distance runner to come from Rosholt since Hanson. Foltz, a senior for Tri-State, medaled in the state Class A cross country meet three times (24th in 2021, 21st in 2022 and 17th in 2023).
15. Baylor Beck, De Smet
De Smet has had a pretty solid cross country program (both boys and girls) through the years, mainly under the guidance of long-time coach Pat Wheeler.
The Bulldogs are getting a couple of mentions in this list and one of those is Beck, who placed 24th in the 2015 state Class B meet as an eighth-grader. He also placed 13th as a junior in 2018 and eighth as a senior in 2019.
14. Todd Zirbel, South Shore
How about another speedy Comet from the 1990s. Zirbel placed 13th in the state Class B meet as a sophomore in 1994, 18th as a junior in 1995 and 16th as a senior in 1996.
South Shore's team finished second in 1994 and added seventh-place finishes in both 1995 and 1996.
13. Rhett McMasters, Lake Preston
How about some love for the Divers! McMasters was a four-time state Class B medalist from 2017-2020.
He took 22nd in 2017, 21st in 2018, fourth in 2019 and 20th in 2020.
12. Jeremy Van Veen, Milbank
I knew there was a good story behind Van Veen and I found out after a search of the interwebs. In high school for the Bulldogs, he placed 18th in the state Class A meet in 1994 and added a seventh-place finish in 1997.
Then he took five years off from competition, got married and started raising a family. He reappeared in 2003-04, running for South Dakota State and continued when he transferred to Northern State and ran competitively while working 20-30 hours a week at a convenience store in Aberdeen while being a husband and a father to three.
11. Austin Berens, Milbank
Be prepared for a lot of Milbank here, but whether it's been under the leadership of Dick Wherry or current head coach Eric Townsend, the Bulldogs have been very successful in cross country.
Berens was a three-time state A medalist for the Bulldogs, taking 19th in 2010 and fifth in both 2011 and 2012.
10. John Rawerts and Great Plains Lutheran
It's probably fair to say that the most successful athletic programs in the 25-year (plus) history of Great Plains Lutheran have been the cross country and track and field programs.
The Panther boys placed in the top 10 at state almost annually from the late 1990s through the 2000s. A runner-up finish in 1999 was the highlight.
Rawerts takes center stage among some very talented runners because he followed an eighth-place finish in the 2005 state B meet with a runner-up finish in 2006.
Brothers Ryan and Ethan Maertz also were state medalists in the 2010s when their father David served as head coach.
9. Jesse Knutson and Eric Ray, Deubrook
Coach Don Ray guided the Dolphins to back-to-back state B championships in 1989 with the help of Knutson, who placed sixth in 1998 and fourth in 1999, and his son Eric, who took eighth in 1998.
8. Jalen Snaza and Payton Brown, Milbank
More Milbank runners, but we told you there were a lot of good Milbank runners.
Brown is a senior and he just medaled in the state Class A meet for the third-straight year. He took 11th in 2021, sixth in 2022 and third in 2023.
Berens (mentioned above) lived under the shadow of Snaza, a four-time state medalist who led the Bulldogs to top-4 finishes three times in four years. Snaza took 11th in 2008, fourth in 2009, fifth in 2010 and third in 2011.
7. Matthew Zirbel, Summit
I don't care what division you're running in, medaling in the state cross country meet five times is a big deal. We've already talked about the long line of Zirbels that have sparked success for the girls' cross country program at Summit, Waubay-Summit and Dakota Hills and now here's one on the boys' side.
Matt placed 18th in the state B meet in 2008, 23rd in 2009, 19th in 2010, 11th in 2011 and fourth in 2012.
6. Zach Frohling, Britton-Hecla
Frohling was a three-time state Class A medalist for the Braves in the early 2000s before running for South Dakota State.
He produced fourth-place finishes at state in both 2001 and 2002 and capped his career with a runner-up finish in 2004. I'm not sure what happened in 2023.
5. Trevor Ward, Brandon Krein and Blake Saathoff, Estelline
Coach James Benning and the Estelline cross country program was one of the best in Class B in the 2000s that included runner-up finishes by the boys in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Those groups were led by four-time state medalists Krein (third in 2008, 10th in 2007 and 13th in both 2006 and 2009) and Saathoff (seventh in 2008, 11th in 2009, 17th in 2006 and 25th in 2007). I remember Saathoff doubled as Estelline's football quarterback in some of those fall seasons.
Another four-time state medalist was Ward, who took 25th in 2009, 23rd in 2010 and third in both 2011 and 2012.
4. Nick and James Batchelor, Milbank
Nick Batchelor certainly put himself in the equation as one of the top Milbank high school runners by medaling five times in the state Class A meet from 2017-2021. He took 25th in 2017, eighth in 2018, third in 2019, fourth in 2020 and second in 2021.
Younger brother James, now a senior at Milbank, placed 23rd this fall and also medaled by taking 25th in 2021.
3. Brent Wherry, Milbank
I remember Brent as a pretty-talented athlete in a number of sports for the Bulldogs in the mid-1980s.
One of those was certainly cross country. He placed fifth in the state Class A meet in 1986, followed up by winning the 1987 state title and then added a fourth-place finish in 1988.
2. George Mollner, De Smet
You want a talk about somebody who was a talented all-around athlete, you have to put Mollner in the equation even though he was only 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds.
He played on a state Class A champion basketball team in 1999, recorded eight first-place finishes in the state track meet and won the state Class A boys cross country championship in 1998.
Mollner also finished fourth in the Class A cross country meet in 1997 and third in Class B in 1996. And year, he played football before it became apparent track and cross country were in his future (South Dakota State).
More: Hanson, Davis lead top 10 boys cross country moments since 1984
1. Harley Hanson, Rosholt
There was never really a debate at who was going to top the list. Hanson's accomplished something no other runner on this list can match — he won three consecutive state high school cross country championships.
Those came during the 1985, 1986 and 1987 state B races. His winning time of 15 minutes and 38 seconds (5,000 meters) in 1985 at the Hillsview Golf Course in Pierre is still the state-meet record on that course. He won in 1986 at Mitchell's Lakeview Golf Course with a time of 15:25 that is still the state-meet record on that course.
What happened in 1987. His winning time of 15:25 at the Meadowbrook Golf Course in Huron was the best in all three classes. He later ran at South Dakota State University.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: 20 Favorites Class A-B boys' cross country runners since 1984
