* Simeon Birnbaum shattered the South Dakota 5K record at the Nike Heartland Preview
- - -
Simeon Birnbaum, our MileSplit50 No. 12 preseason runner, debuted his cross country season with an impressive performance.
The Rapid City Stevens (SD) senior -- who broke four minutes for the mile at the Brooks PR Invitational in the summer -- became the fastest boy in South Dakota history in the 5K by six seconds.
Derick Peters of West Central and Birnbaum are the only two boys in history who have gone under the 15-minute 5K mark from South Dakota. Birnbaum ran his first sub-15-minute 5K in his career with a 14:47 to win the Nike Heartland Preview.
He shaved nearly a minute off his victory time from this race last year. He won the title by 35 seconds over Minnetonka's (MN) Nick Gilles and Harrisburg's (OR) Cashton Johnson.
On the girls side, two girls broke through the 18-minute 5K barrier.
It was Ali Bainbridge of Sioux Falls Lincoln (SD) and Sioux Falls O'Gorman's (SD) Libby Castelli, who completed the course in 17:10 and 17:41, respectively. Brionna Holso of Rapid City Stevens ran a time of 18 minutes flat for third.
VARSITY BOYS 5000 METER RUN FINALS ALL RESULTS PLACE ATHLETE TEAM RESULT POINTS 1 Simeon Birnbaum 12 Rapid City Stevens High School 14:47.80 1 2 Nick Gilles 12 Minnetonka High School 15:22.10 2 3 Cashton Johnson 12 Harrisburg High School 15:51.50 3 4 Max Westerlund 12 Minnetonka High School 15:56.60 4 5 Grady Loos 11 Rapid City Stevens High School 16:04.70 5 6 Joe Cross 11 Elk Point-Jefferson High School 16:06.40 0 7 Mikele Walu 12 Worthington High School 16:09.50 6 8 Ryan Fries 11 Minnetonka High School 16:12.30 7 9 Luke Rupert 11 Hill City High School 16:12.80 8
The Scoop:
Page 2: V-V-S Invitational featured Saratoga Springs and many girls on the MileSplit50 preseason rankings
Page 3: Noah Breker rewrites the record books at Gale Woods Farm
Page 4: Liberty Bell Cross Country Invitational hosted big performances
Page 5: Nike Heartland Preview showcased South Dakota's talent
Page 6: Irene Riggs dominates Red, White, and Blue Classic