The Ipswich girls and boys each placed fifth in their respective varsity team standings at a Miller invitational high school cross country meet last Monday in Miller. And it turned out to be a competitive event in more ways than one, according to coach Todd Thorson.

"It was a hot day, 90 degrees that made it hard for everyone," he explained. "It was a mini state meet with the top teams in both the boys and girls races. If you were in the Top 25, you really had a good race."

Ipswich scored 43 team points in the girls' varsity, while Potter County won the event over Kimball/White Lake 16 to 25. Individually Mobridge-Pollock's Heidi Olson won this event in 19:34.65 and Potter County's Danika Kaup was second in 20:59.25. Ipswich would have two girls in the Top 25 that day, Madyson Gellhaus in tenth at 22:11.41 and Ashlinn Hartwell in 13th at 22:39.09. Next for Ipswich was Gracyn Kadlec in 32nd at 25:10.05.

Looking at the boys' standings, Miller topped Northwestern Area 9 to 23 to become the boys' team champions, while Ipswich's fifth-place boys' varsity team effort would score 62 points. Miller's Pierce Baumberger topped his own teammate Alex Schumacher for individual honors 17:55.94 to 18:00.98.

The Ipswich boys did also have a pair of Top 25 runners that day — Dylan Wald in 15th at 19:40.47 and Taylor Thorson 24th in 20:23.27. Meanwhile, Xavier Kadlec placed 32nd in 21:05.91 to become Ipswich's third scorer that day.

In the girls' JV team standings Ipswich bettered Miller 10 to 13 for first place, thanks to Katelyn Tufte in third at 18:28.61 and Gabrielle Wald in fourth at 19:03.41, as well as Ava Davis in 14th at 21:26.90. Chloe Jager placed 19th in 23:01.73 followed by Hailey Usselman in 22nd at 24:45.56.

The boys' JV outcome featured Clayton Horst in 17th at 18:08.27 and Tyler Gellhaus would place 23rd in 18:52.69. The team title was won by Northwestern 21 to 23 over Sunshine Bible Academy. But Spencer Sargent of SBA won the individual bragging rights with his 16:02.89 clocking and Potter County's Sean Seuer was second at 16:20.32.

"The JV runners really ran good," Thorson said. "And probably our two best races of the day were the two sixth-grade runners Jace (Stiles) and Aubree (DeRaad). They both beat our 3K course record for Miller and had really strong finishes to their races." DeRaad won the girls' middle-school 3K in 12:10.54 and Stiles was second only to Miller's own Chase Hurd 11:44.26 to 11:52.20.

Northwestern topped Miller for the 3K girls' team title and Kimball/White Lake edged Highmore-Harrold for the boys' 3K team crown.

The next IHS action was to be the LRC conference event right here in Ipswich today, October 6 slated for a 12:30 p.m. start. Thorson was hoping for some productive practice sessions before this meet and the Region 4B event on Oct. 13 in Gettysburg.