Central's Tony Smoragiewicz won in his first cross country race of the season on Friday, but Cheyenne Eagle Butte

Each year the Rapid City Invitational sits at the midway point of the high school cross country season as a weathervane of how well runners are prepared for the home stretch. But Friday afternoon there wasn’t much drama on the flat, meandering, scorching hot Elks Golf Course.

On the women’s side, Stevens sophomore sensation, Tamara Gorman, the reigning state champion, spent the afternoon riding around in the back of a golf cart, dangling an injured foot behind her. Stevens freshman, Emily Person, who finished second in Huron last week behind Gorman, was on the bus with the Stevens girl’s soccer team, headed to a game against undefeated Roosevelt in Sioux Falls.

Gillette freshman Abby Phillips won the race with a time of 15:34.84, and Tia Carson of Kadoka, finished in second with a time of 15:45.96. Both ran great races in the sweltering 90-degree heat, but with the absence of Gorman and Person, the race took on a less than champion character.

The course ran hotter and slower than last year, when the weather was cold and rainy. Last year, Gorman, running as a freshman, finished the same 4k course in 15:13 and came in second to Christie Schiel of Cheyenne Central. On Friday, Shiel came in 18th, a full 1:23 slower than her winning time of last year.

The only runner who seemed not to be affected by the heat was Central’s up-and-coming sophomore, Adeline Straatmeyer. On Friday, she crossed the finish line in fourth place with a time of 15:50.91—28 seconds faster than her 2010 time.

Tenth grader Savannah Childers of Spearfish crossed the line at 16:01.14, in fifth place, 23 seconds slower than last year.

(Photos Jake Nordbye/IDS)

On the men’s side, runners struggled against the heat, and their times were down from last year, but the day belonged to Dysan Lends His Horse from Cheyenne Eagle Butte, the reigning Class “A” state champion. Lends His Horse made Tony Smoragiewicz work for his status as a world-class runner. He and Smoragiewicz traded the lead several times over the 5k course before Somoragiewicz opened up a five-second gap on the final sprint to win the men’s race with a time of 16:22.97. To stay close, Lends His Horse ran only eight seconds slower than last year. Smoragiewicz, still shaking off the jet lag from his trip to Beijing, was a 43 seconds slower than his winning time from last year’s race.

“I just ran my race. I don’t think there is a plan for running against Tony.” Lends His Horse told IDS after the race. “He’s one of the best in the nation. But I’m pretty happy with my performance today. I’m right where I should be at this time in the season.”

For Smoragiewicz, the race plan was to jump out with the leaders, but not use up energy holding the lead until the end of the race.

“I took a week off after the triathlon world championships, and I’m just getting back.” Smoragiewicz said. “I was surprised by Dysan. He ran a really good race. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be and he ran really well.”