IHS Cross Country runners practicing at the track last week.
Hard work pays dividends in any high school varsity sport, but this is particularly true in cross country. And 10 Ipswich girls' varsity runners have already been busy during pre-season practice sessions, along with six IHS varsity boys.
That Tiger girls' roster lists just two senior girls, Chloe Jager and Makala DeRaad and there is a lone varsity senior boy, Taylor Thorson. But each team returns a lot of firepower and varsity experience. (The Ipswich girls indeed placed third in the 2020 State B and last year's IHS boys landed in eighth place at their state meet.)
"Both teams are hoping to be in the top six in state and anytime you are in the top six you give yourself a chance to win a state title," said coach Todd Thorson. "Both teams are young, but we return our top two girls and three of our top five." Meanwhile, Thorson says that the Tiger boys will return all four runners who ran at state last year. "Both teams have lofty goals and if they work hard, they will be contending for a state title," Thorson said.
The girls have no juniors this year, but Hailey Usselman is a sophomore and Ashlinn Hartwell is a freshman. There will be four eighth-grade girls, Ava Davis, Madisyn Gellhaus, Gracyn Kadlec and Gabrielle Wald. Katelyn Tufte and Bella Unser are varsity-eligible seventh graders. There are two additional middle-school sixth-grade non-varsity girls this season, Aubree DeRaad and Jacey Rossow.
Joining Taylor Thorson on the varsity boys' side will be junior Turner Thorson and a pair of sophomores, Xavier Kadlec and Dylan Wald. Tyler Gellhaus and Clayton Horst are seventh-grade varsity hopefuls. Jace Styles is a middle-school sixth-grade boy.
The Tigers will travel to Pierre on August 27 to start their season. Their schedule will feature an Ipswich Tiger home invite on September 11, as well as hosting the Lake Region Conference showdown on October 6 at Split Rock Country Club. Their regional will then take place in Gettysburg on October 13 and the State B is scheduled for Sioux Falls on October 23.
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