Rapid City Stevens swept both the boys and girls divisions at the Sturgis Cross Country Invitational on Thursday.

The teams and runners were looking to get another good race in before the Greater Dakota Conference Meet next week in Rapid City.

"The conditions were great for the spectators," said Stevens head coach Forrest Flaagan. "It was, however, a little hot out there for the runners."

Individually, a pair of sophomores - Stevens' Riley Coates took the boys race in 16 minutes, 14.95 seconds with Sturgis' Madeleine Takahashi - triumphing on her home course with a time of 15.43.14 to win the girls.

The Raider boys had five top 10 finishers to finish with 21 points. Sturgis was second with 60 points, followed by Rapid City Central with 76 points and Spearfish a point behind in fourth at 77 points.

Damien Schuster, of Sturgis, came in second in the boys race with a 16:21.95 clocking. A pair of Raider seniors, Tom Kjerengtroen and Nathan Richardson, both broke the 17-minute barrier with third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.

Douglas' Casey Coates was fifth with Jared Hicks, of Spearfish, in sixth.

Mike Scharn and Austin Hegert, another pair of Stevens seniors, were seventh and eighth, with Rapid City Central's Tony Smoragiewicz and Josh Hanks rounding out the top 10.

"Our front three, Riley, Tom and Nathan have been very solid for us all year," said Flaagan. "Mike and Austin have carried a lot of weight running four and five. We need to continue to work on closing the time gap between them."

The Raider girls were equally impressive as they produced four top ten finishers enroute to 22 points. Douglas compiled 39 points for second and Rapid City Central took third with 69 points.

Senior Annie Pfeifle was the top Raider with a time of 15.44.02 as she took second overall teammate Sarah Coomes, a sophomore, came in third at 16.08.03.

Bailey Eich of Douglas turned in a 16.21.61 for fourth with Tera Potts grabbing fifth in 16.45.78.

Maleah Schad of Stevens finished sixth; seventh place went to Makala Diggs of Douglas with Jessica Brandli of Stevens in eighth. A pair of Patriots, Alex Suhr and Casey Cole filled out the top ten.

The top Central finisher was Myrissa Clark in 12th while the top Spearfish runner was Roni Mollman in 18th.

'The girls had a real nice effort. Annie and Sarah have been back and forth in leading us. In all we had seven runners finish in the top 15."

The Raider junior varsity swept both divisions.

Flaagan will be spending the week filling out the rosters for both teams for the GDC, which will be run at the Elks Golf Course at 4 p.m.

"There should be some great competition next week," said Flaagan. "Sioux Falls Roosevelt is coming off a big win in Minnesota in the girls and I like our chances in the boys, we have run against everyone against everyone except Sioux Falls O'Gorman."