National Talent And South Dakota Bred Derick Peters Chooses Wisconsin


Fresh off a gusty effort at Nike Cross Nationals Heartland in his home state of South Dakota, West Central High senior Derick Peters finalized his collegiate future during the National Letter of Intent (NLI) early signing period on Monday. 

Peters inked with the University of Wisconsin during a signing among friends, family, coaches, and teammates at West Central.

Peters, ranked No. 9 on the Flo50 national boys cross country rankings and No. 36 on MileSplit's top 50 recruits in the class of 2018, signals a fantastic get for a men's program that signed a stellar class a year ago which included national talents Seth Hirsch, Finn Gesner, and Noah Jacobs.

Peters is coming off two big performances in recent weeks, including Sunday's second-place effort in 14:55.62 at NXR Heartland, where Peters bounced back from an early deficit to earn an automatic qualifier to NXN. 

On October 21, Peters also lit up the state championships in South Dakota, hitting a time of 15:06.20 and earlier posted his best career effort at 5K at the Lennox Invitational in 14:53.65. 

Peters, who also hopes to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals, holds career PBs of 4:19.33 in the 1600m, 9:25.20 in the 3200m, and 15:25.38 at the 3-mile distance. 


Related Stats: 

  • 1600m (in) - 4:27.80
  • 1600m - 4:19.33
  • 3200m (in) - 10:41.18
  • 3200m - 9:25.20
  • 4K (xc) - 15:48.87
  • 3 Mile (xc) - 15:25.38
  • 5K (xc) - 14:53.65