| cross country returning talent, solid recruits cause for...

South Dakota Boys

BeresfordCOACH: Jim Sorensen VITALS: Class A, Region 2, Big 12

ConferenceLAST YEAR: Beresford qualified one

golfer, Kory Diefendorf, for the state meet.He received 19th place at the tourna-ment. The Watchdogs lost two letterwin-ners, both starters, from last season.

RETURNING LETTERWINNERS:Kory Diefendorf (Sr.); Hunter Beeson(Fr.); Sam Nelson (8th)

TOP PROSPECTS: Logan Buscg(So.); Peter Cruz (8th); Seth Holzman(8th); Jonah Larson (8th); GrantGustafson (Fr.); Carter Juhnke (Fr.); MaxDeraad (Fr.)

Dakota ValleyCOACH: Paula WilsonVITALS: Class A, Region 2ALAST YEAR: Dakota Valley finished

seventh at the state tournament last sea-son, with Ben Williams placing seventh.

TOP PROSPECTS: Ben Williams(Sr.); Thomas High (Sr.); Jacob Wente(So.); Tyler Schrunk (Sr.); Jameson Bull(8th); Tripp Shuey (Fr.); Tanner Hensley(8th); Ryan Jensen (Fr.); Rhett Chalup(Sr.); Henry Tuttle (7th); Pete Macker-prang (Fr.); Trent Jensen (Fr.); SeanCallaghan (7th); Ben Kennedy (So.);Hank Hahne (8th); Bradley Wagner (7th);Alec Peck (7th); Hayden Jensen (7th);Ethan Mansfield (So.); James VanCleave(Fr.); Justin Weaver (7th)

PRESS & DAKOTAN/PLAIN TALK ■ FALL SPORTS 2013 PAGE 7A

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Mount Marty | Cross Country

Returning Talent, Solid Recruits Cause For OptimismBY PETER CHAPMANsports@yankton.net

The Mount Marty Collegecross country team looks tobe stacked with fast, talentedrunners on both the men andwomen’s team as they pre-pare for their first meet onSeptember 6, in Sioux Falls.

Last year the Lancermen’s cross country placedseventh at the 2012 GreatPlains conference champi-onships with Jordan Patermaking All-Conference hon-ors and the National meet.The women followed in thefootsteps of the men with aschool best eighth place fin-ish at the conference champi-onships.

“We had a successful sea-son last year with both themen and the women placinghigher at GPAC’s,” coachRandy Fischer said. “Last sea-son was one of, if not themost, successful season inthe schools history and I be-lieve that we are only goingto get better.”

As coach Fischer headsinto his seventh year as thehead coach for the MountMarty College cross countryteam he continues to seek im-provement with program andcreate a nationally competi-tive team.

On the men’s side theteam is deep with five incom-ing freshman and the rest re-turning letterman from last

years team. Four seniors and out-

standing athletes lead themen’s team. Jordan Paterwho was the top runner forthe team last season andholds the school 8K record at25:16, received All-Confer-ence honors and made the2012 NAIA National crosscountry meet in Vancouver,Wash. Sam Lopez who holdsthe fifth best 8K time inschool history, finished 25thout of 94 at the conferencemeet, and holds a personalbest of 26:08. Also leading theteam are Mychal Bierwagenand Joshua Monson who alsohad very good seasons lastyear.

Returning men includesophomore Gage Blaschkefrom Sioux Falls and sopho-more Ryan Oye from Lu-verne, Minn., who look tomake an impact on the team.Sophomore Jacob Fokkenfrom Yankton has also joinedthe team.

The Mount Marty crosscountry team recruited fivefreshman in who will helpkeep the program running

hard. Jordan Houdek fromHighmore, who placed sixthat the South Dakota Class Bstate cross country meet,Christian Petrich fromLennox, Sky Humbert fromMission, William Lawrencefrom Columbus, Neb., andVincent Raia fron Windom,Minn.

For the women’s team lastseason saw six seniors gradu-ate out recruiting fresh legsfor the team that will helprun the Lancers to newheights.

This younger women’steam will be led by led bysenior Katie Smelker, who isthird all-time for the 5K at18:45 and sophomore JordynHudleson who holds the sixthall-time spot at 19:28 for the5K.

Other returning women in-clude junior Beth Finneganfrom Newcastle, Neb., looksto add strength to thewomen’s team along withteammates junior BrittanyHealy from Harrisburg, soph-omore Brooke Nordman fromLennox and Miranda Pribilfrom O’Neill, Neb.

Incoming freshman forthis team are Caitlin Davisfrom Elk Point, who looks tomake and impact on the teamand shows great potential,Karen Mayfield from Water-town, who comes from atrack and field and marathonrunning background and ranthe 3200 meter in 11:49,

Mandy O’Malley from NorthPlatte, Neb., who has greatpotential and placed in thetop eighteen at the statecross country meet, BerkleyRietveld from Mitchell, who isa great cross country runnerand has run the 800 in 2:25on the track and TiffanyTramp from Crofton, Neb.,who made the Class D statemeet all four years in highschool and placed third in2010.

This team of Lancerwoman has the potential tobe the best women’s crosscountry team in school his-tory as they continue to trainand gain experience through-out the season.

The Lancers have beentraining for a couple weeksnow as they did their high al-titude training in Spearfishthis last week in preparationfor competition to get underway next month.

“The goal this year is tobe in the top half of the GreatPlains Athletic Conferenceand to get a bid for nation-als,” coach Fischer said. Boththe men and women’s teamsseem to be on the progres-sive track setting high stan-dards for those who willfollow the success that thisteam should bring to MountMarty College.

You can follow Peter Chap-man on Twitter attwitter.com/PEChapmanSamuel Lopez (right)

Mount Marty | Men’s Soccer

Lancer Men Continue To Build With Young TeamBY NICK ROBINSONsports@yankton.net

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article origi-nally appeared in the Aug. 27 edition ofthe Press & Dakotan.

The Mount Marty men’s soccer teamfinished last season with a 2-16, but areoptimistic about a successful 2013 cam-paign this fall.

"We’re going to be a young team,"Mount Marty head coach Nathan Eppsaid. "We will have a significant amountof playing time coming from freshmenand sophomores."

The Lancers return six starters fromlast year’s squad. The returning startersare forward Adan Garcia-Marquez, mid-fielder Ricardo Marroquin, midfielderJames Elliott, forward Luwin Arana, de-fender Benjamin Crandall, and goal-

keeper Oscar Martinez.Mount Marty will miss the two lead-

ing goal scorers from a year ago. JoseMarquez led the Lancers with six scoredgoals respectfully. Yankton native andformer captain Josh Koch was secondwith five goals.

Arana led the team for players re-turning with four goals. Martinez ledMount Marty with 76 saves in 15 gamesplayed last season.

"The talent level is continuing to im-prove for us so our expectations are toimprove the record over last year andattempt to sneak into the GPAC post-season tournament," Epp said.

Expect the Lancers to lean on theirreturning starters this fall.

Mount Marty will add three playerswith key experience, as well. Luis Tapiafrom Evanston, Wyo.; Manuel Borjon,who is a redshirt senior from Herber,

Calif.; and Juan Magana, a redshirt soph-omore from South Sioux City, Neb. willall add leadership to the squad.

A key strength for the Lancers will betheir overall improvement and speed onthe ball.

"Our team speed will be much im-proved along with our ability to pos-sess," Epp said. "We should be muchimproved offensively and should be ableto put pressure on teams."

According to Epp, Hastings is theteam to beat in the GPAC.

"Hastings always has a lot of talentand they always are expected to win theGPAC," he said.

Mount Marty opened the 2013 sea-son on Tuesday, Aug. 27, at homeagainst York College.

You can follow Nick Robinson onTwitter at twitter.com/RobinsoNick2013

BY NICK ROBINSONsports@yankton.net

EDITOR’S NOTE: This arti-cle originally appeared in theAug. 27 edition of the Press &Dakotan.

The Mount Marty Lancerswomen’s soccer team is look-ing to build off a monumentalcampaign last fall. TheLancers set the school recordfor best record in school his-tory (4-12-1) and the bestconference record in schoolhistory.

“The team will still beyoung and lack of depth is a

concern,” head coach NathanEpp said. “But, the team hasthe talent to make a push forthe conference post-seasonthis year and significantly im-prove on last seasons’record.”

The Lancers return eightstarters from last years’squad. The returning startersare forward Jennifer Nelson,defender Amy Hisek, de-fender Alexandra Rojas, mid-fielder Julie Nelson, forwardLaura Ekeren, forward AllisonErwin, midfielder Paige An-derson, and midfielder MollyBuche.

“The returning starters

should all make a significantimpact and the addition ofsophomore Courtney True atgoalie will make the defensevery formidable,” Epp said.

Erwin led the Lancers lastseason with seven goals. Jen-nifer Nelson led Mount Martywith 132 saves last season.

Mount Marty may be ayoung squad, but accordingto Epp, it has the ability tomake things happen.

“While still a young teamwithout many upperclassmenthe understanding of thegame and ability to play as ateam should be much im-proved over last season,” he

said. “Our lack of depth willbe our biggest concern.”

The Lancers toughest op-ponent this fall will be Hast-ings.

“Hastings always has a lotof talent and they always ex-pect to win the GPAC,” Eppsaid.

Mount Marty opened the2013 season on Tuesday, Aug.27, at home against York Col-lege.

You can follow Nick Robin-son on Twitter attwitter.com/RobinsoNick2013.

MMC Women Aim To Add To Program Bests From 2012

Date Opponent Women Men8/27 York College 3 p.m. 5:15 p.m.8/31 Harris-Stowe (@ Leavanworth, Kan.) noon 2 p.m.9/1 Univ. of St. Mary (@ Leavanworth) noon 2 p.m.9/4 @ College of St. Mary 4 p.m. ———9/8 Clarke University noon 2 p.m.9/12 @ Presentation College 3 p.m. 5 p.m.9/13 William Penn University 2 p.m. 4 p.m.9/17 University of Jamestown 3 p.m. 5 p.m.9/21 @ Concordia 1 p.m. 3 p.m9/25 @ Morningside 5:30 p.m. 8 p.m.9/28 Nebraska Wesleyan 1 p.m. 3 p.m.10/1 Grace University ——— 4 p.m.10/5 @ Doane 1 p.m. 3:15 p.m.10/9 Northwestern 2 p.m. 4 p.m.10/13 @ Briar Cliff 2 p.m. 4 p.m.10/19 Midland 1 p.m. 3 p.m.10/22 @ Dakota Wesleyan 5 p.m. 7:30 p.m.10/30 Dordt 2 p.m. 4 p.m.11/2 Hastings 1 p.m. 3 p.m.

GPAC TournamentFirst Round Nov. 7 Nov. 5Semifinals Nov. 12 Nov. 9Championship Nov. 15 Nov. 14

MMC Soccer (@mmclancers)

Allison Erwin

MMC Cross Country9/6 Augie Twilight 8:30 p.m.9/14 Dakota St. Inv. 10:30 a.m.9/27 DWU Inv. 4 p.m.10/12 Briar Cliff Inv. 10 a.m.10/26 Mount Marty Inv. 10:30 a.m.11/9 GPAC (Seward) 10:30 a.m.11/23 NAIA (Lawrence, Kan.)

HighSchool

Golf

SearchBen Williams,

Dakota Valley(left): Seniorplaced 7th inClass A Boys in2012.

Jake Weber,Parkston: Seniortied for 9th in A.

Thomas High,Dakota Valley:Junior tied for13th in A.

KoryDiefendorf,Beresford: Seniortied for 19th in A.

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