Black Hills State University’s cross-country teams kicked off the season with a home meet in Sturgis on Sept. 9 at the Gage McSpadden Memorial. Timothy and Sylvia Brown, a twin brother and sister duo, each placed first for both the men and women, respectively. The men’s team also placed first overall, while the women’s team took second, losing only to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Before the race, head coach Brian Medigovich explained to the athletes that the SDSMT teams were most likely to win. Although Medigovich anticipated the strong performance from SDSMT, he didn’t expect his athletes to back down either.

“The first meet of the year for us is a ‘rust buster’ basically,” Medigovich said. “[SDSMT] had one race under their belts. They had their rust buster already in, so I knew, against them, it would be very hard to win… [but] in any race situation, we’re trying to beat everyone while we are there.”

During the race, Sylvia Brown led the pack on the women’s side, and her brother, Timothy Brown, did the same for the men. Although the twins each had very strong races, they weren’t anticipating their duo victory.

“I honestly wasn’t really expecting to win,” Tim Brown said. “I was like, well, Tyler Captain [SDSMT] is probably going to go out there and stick it to us…but then at the end of the race, he was like, ‘Man, I didn’t know you guys were going to go so hard.’”

Sylvia had a similar experience during her race. 

“The beginning of the second lap, there was a Mine’s girl pretty close behind me…and it was honestly pretty stressful,” Sylvia Brown said. “I was like, ‘I can’t lose at the home meet.’”

The typical length of cross-country races is eight kilometers for the men and six kilometers for the women. The Gage McSpadden Memorial race saw the men run six kilometers and the women run four kilometers.

“It builds a little bit of confidence,” Medigovich said. “[S]ometimes, in that first race, they’re not ready, especially the freshmen. They’re not ready for that extra distance.”

Medigovich explained that the shorter race can act as a transitional step for the freshmen on the team. The freshmen are particularly important for the women’s team this year, as half of the 14-athlete roster is made up of newcomers.

As for the twins, the shorter race distances only proved they are ready for the longer ones.

“I think the times we’re running for 4k, we can probably do that for 6k,” Sylvia Brown said. 

Her brother agreed.  

“I’m definitely ready for an 8k now,” Tim Brown said. 

Looking into the rest of the season, Medigovich is excited for what the men’s and women’s teams can accomplish.

“Where we placed didn’t change the goal for where we can be,” Medigovich said. “It didn’t change any of my thoughts about regionals. We are on track to where I think we should be.” 

The coach has his eye on the regional meet for both teams and is preparing them to score higher than in years previous.

The twins also have their sights set high as they continue into the rest of their season.

“Personally, I’m looking to be a top four individual finisher at regionals,” Tim Brown said. 

The ranking would give him the chance to compete at the DII nationals cross country meet. His sister’s goal is also to race as one of the top individuals at regionals and make her way to the national meet.