BOX ELDER, S.D. — The Spearfish Spartans cross country season got an early test Friday as the boys and girls competed at the Douglas Early Bird Meet, with several Spartans turning in strong individual performances in the 5,000-meter varsity races.
The Spearfish boys placed two runners inside the top five and finished fourth in the team standings, while eighth-grader Taisley Tetrault led the Spartan girls with a fifth-place finish.
Gill and Jeffery Finish Back-to-Back
Junior Mason Gill led the way for the Spearfish boys, completing the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 1.7 seconds to finish fourth overall.
Freshman Roman Jeffery wasn’t far behind.
Jeffery crossed the finish line in 17:36.9, giving Spearfish fifth place and two runners inside the top five.
The pair helped Spearfish finish fourth in the team standings with 50 points.
Douglas captured the boys team title with 29 points, followed closely by Belle Fourche with 34. Sturgis Brown finished third with 42, eight points ahead of Spearfish.
Sturgis Brown senior Ruben Bokegard won the individual title with a time of 16:06.3. Belle Fourche’s Lennon Clarkson placed second at 16:24.2, while Douglas’ Wyatt Balliew finished third in 16:39.7.
After Gill and Jeffery gave the Spartans two of the first five finishers, Spearfish’s next group came across the line together.
Junior Michael Aberle finished 26th in 20:37.1, followed by junior Tanner Gottlob in 27th with a time of 20:51.4.
Junior Luca Neiman placed 28th at 21:42.7, while junior Bloom Brown followed in 29th at 21:44.9. Sophomore Ryland Moore completed the Spearfish varsity group in 30th with a time of 21:47.7.
The tight grouping gave Spearfish five consecutive finishers from 26th through 30th.
Tetrault Leads Spearfish Girls With Top-Five Finish
One of Spearfish’s top performances of the meet came from one of its youngest varsity runners.
Eighth-grader Taisley Tetrault finished fifth overall in the girls 5,000 meters, completing the course in 21:44.6.
Tetrault was the only middle school-aged runner to finish inside the top seven and finished less than a minute behind individual champion Rhys Pearson of Belle Fourche, who won the race in 20:47.7.
Sophomore Maddy Campbell gave Spearfish another top-15 performance, finishing 13th with a time of 23:23.0.
Sophomore Trinity Hourigan rounded out Spearfish’s varsity girls finishers, placing 17th in 24:26.3.
With three runners competing, Spearfish did not record an official girls team score.
Belle Fourche won the girls team competition with 18 points. Hill City finished second with 36, Sturgis Brown took third with 42 and Douglas finished fourth with 44.
Early Look at the Spartans
The Douglas Early Bird provided an early look at a Spearfish boys team that already has a strong combination developing at the front of its lineup.
Gill and Jeffery finishing fourth and fifth put two Spartans among the meet’s best runners, while Spearfish also showed depth with five runners crossing the finish line consecutively later in the race.
On the girls side, Tetrault immediately established herself near the front of the field despite being just an eighth-grader. Her fifth-place performance, combined with Campbell’s 13th-place finish, gave Spearfish two runners inside the top half of the varsity field.
With the first major results of the season now in the books, Spearfish leaves the Douglas Early Bird with several early-season performances to build on as the Spartans move deeper into the 2026 cross country schedule.