Kerry Washburn spent a year away from cross country with a stress fracture in her left foot.
The Black Hills State sophomore made up for time lost on Friday.
Washburn was at the top of her game as she sprinted past Dickinson State junior Rose Jepkirui to claim the Dakota Athletic Conference women's cross country championship at the Heart River Golf Course.
"It's good to finally get back to racing, to where I was before and actually even better than I was before," Washburn said.
BHSU's Wendy O'Lexey and Alicia Verhulst finished third and fourth, respectively, to help the 13th-ranked Yellow Jackets pick up the team championship.
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BHSU totaled 25 points while DSU had 61. Jamestown College came in third at 87.
Washburn and Jepkirui built a buffer zone between themselves and the rest of the competition going into the final mile. Still, there was nothing Jepkirui could do to hold off Washburn in the final 100 meters.
"I could tell I was gaining on her so I knew I had a chance to get her, so I just gave it my all and pushed it to the finish line," Washburn said.
Washburn sprinted past Jepkirui to claim the championship in 18 minutes, 12.02 seconds. Jepkirui finished in 18:17.72.
"Rose, she doesn't have a big kick, what we need to do with her - and we talked after the race - is at that last mile mark, we need to pick the pace up," DSU coach Thadd O'Donnell said.
BHSU takes top four places
to secure men's championship
BHSU senior Allen Wood wanted his team to make a statement at the DAC championships.
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So when Wood and teammates Trent Waage and Cody Bordewyk pulled away from the pack around the 1½-mile mark and maintained their lead, the sixth-ranked Yellow Jackets proved just how dominant they were compared to the rest of the DAC.
"It feels great," said Wood, who won the men's race by crossing the finish line just ahead of Waage and Bordewyk. "That's our goal, was just to dominate here and move on, just to see if we're ready."
Wood clocked a time of 24:57.45, Waage and Bordewyk were right beside him with times of 24:57.73 and 24:57.99, respectively.
BHSU senior Mike Nekuda summed up the Yellow Jackets' dominance with a fourth-place finish at 25:12.26.
"I really wasn't expecting it to go quite like that, but I'm incredibly proud of this group," BHSU coach Scott Walkinshaw said.
BHSU cruised to a team title with 19 points. DSU was second at 45 and Dakota State was third with 86.
"We had a top four that ran real well, but going out and trying to compete with those guys, in pretty much a dual type situation, we're going to run ourselves out right away," O'Donnell said.
DSU's Sergio Campos Jimenez, John Kungu, Porfirio Parra and Salvador Bautista kept pace with the Yellow Jackets' top runners for some time, but began to fall behind after the 1-mile mark.
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Jimenez led the Blue Hawks with a sixth-place finish and a time of 25:33.06. Kungu was right behind him at 25:37.25. Parra came in eighth at 25:39.84.
"We definitely want to work for a conference championship and are guys are just frustrated," O'Donnell said. "They definitely are disappointed in that aspect of it, but that's what makes them competitive and makes them hungry for down the road."
