Four runners pushed into the top 10 list at Saturdays Beef and Eggs 5K, sponsored by Prairie Striders Running Club.
Winning the 3.1-mile race in a time 14:48 was Dale Johnson, 19, of Sterling, Illinois, who just finished his freshman season on the South Dakota State University track and cross country team. His time ranks fifth best in the 21-year history of the historically fast race.
Johnson, the most prolific runner in Sterling High School history, was sitting in fourth place after the first mile. He was about 10 meters behind Jackson Dutcher, Will Lohr and Jackson Harrison, who were running shoulder to shoulder. Dutcher and Lohr are making their mark with the South Dakota State program while Harrison was a standout at Northern State University.
Johnson, donning a stars and stripes singlet for the post-Fourth of July event, saved up energy for the final two miles, edging Dutcher and Harrison, both finishing in 14:50 with Dutcher a fraction of a second ahead. Lohr finished fourth in 15:01.
Dutcher and Harrison now hold spots six and seven on the all-time list. The final spot on the top 10 list is now held by Tom Breuckman (2023), Trent Lusignan (2019) and Kyle Burdick (2020), all at 14:56. Andrew Carlson set the race mark of 14:37 in 2014. That is a 4:42 per mile pace.
Moving into the top 10 on the womens list was April Lund, 43, of Bismarck, N.D., whose time of 17:25 now stands sixth. She placed ninth overall in her first Beef and Eggs 5K and also received a medal for being the first-place finisher in the USA Track and Field Dakotas 5K championship, which was held in conjunction with the Beef and Eggs 5K.
The other females in the top four were all under age 20.
Runner-up was Faith Wiese, 17, of Flandreau, with a time of 18:53 to finish 15th overall. Finishing 26th and 27th, respectively, were Maxine Ordway, 13, of Harrisburg, in 20:19 and Addison Smetana, 19, of Brookings, in 20:26.
The event had 147 entries with 141 finishers, the second highest turnout since 2015. It was a diverse field. In addition to the elites, there were three runners in the age 70+ category and four 9-year-olds. First place in the age 70+ category went to Kevin Neal, 71, of Bradley, who three weeks ago ran a hot and humid Grandmas Marathon in Duluth, Minn. On Saturday, Neal clocked a 5K time of 24:04.
The race was directed by Kevin Bjerke, of Billings, Montana, who started the race as a senior at SDSU and has continuously led the event.
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