Rapid City Stevens’ Simeon Birnbaum continues to cover new ground as South Dakota’s best distance runner

RAPID CITY – Fast Metropolis Stevens star distance runner Simeon Birnbaum continues so as to add to his record-breaking highschool operating profession.

Coming off a season wherein he received two particular person state titles within the 800-meter and 1,600-meter sprint, in addition to serving to his group win the 4×800 relay on the state meet in 2021, Birnbaum got here into this 12 months’s observe season in some way extra motivated than ever earlier than.

The season started with the junior competing on the Arcadia Invitational in California for the one-mile run on April 9, the place Birnbaum broke the South Dakota state report for the quickest mile time at 4 minutes, 7.88 seconds. Competing towards a number of the nation’s prime highschool athletes, he rose to the event, beating a report that had been held in South Dakota for greater than 40 years and completed third total in what was his most nerve-racking race he’d been part of.

He adopted that milestone up with an all-time state efficiency within the boys 3,200-meter race on the Howard Wooden Dakota Relays. As he gained a 30-meter hole from the following closest runner within the first lap and ended the race with greater than 100 meters separating him from the second place finisher, Birnbaum set the state report and moved into the top-10 within the nation with an 8 minute and 55.22 second end within the 3,200-meter occasion.

After crossing the end line, Birnbaum was ecstatic about carrying out this milestone in his dwelling state.

“I had in thoughts that I might do that ever because the Arcadia Invitational again in early April,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I barely acquired the state report there and my subsequent huge meet was Howard Wooden, so I mentioned, ‘Why not go for the two-mile state report. … Operating in California is cool and all, however it was nice to interrupt this report in South Dakota and at an awesome area like Howard Wooden. It makes this report just a little bit extra particular.”

It didn’t shock the junior within the slightest that he was breaking South Dakota state information or making his mark throughout the nation, after the way in which the cross nation season in the course of the fall of 2021. Birnbaum completed first in three separate meets in the course of the cross nation season, together with a first-place end on the Class AA state meet on October 23.

After the season concluded, Birnbaum positioned eighth within the Nike Heartland Regional Championships on November 14 and completed sixteenth out of 150 of the nation’s quickest 5000-meter runners on the Eastbay Midwest Area Cross Nation Championships on November 27. As soon as he understood the place he stood nationally, Birnbaum felt it was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.

“I might say my breakthrough races occurred this cross nation season after I raced within the Eastbay Midwest Area and the Nike Heartland Regional,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I completed fairly excessive up and ran higher than I ever had earlier than. I all the time knew I used to be higher on the observe so I put within the work and I had all the pieces I wanted to make it thus far.”

As a result of observe season getting canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Birnbaum solely competed in cross nation occasions from the top of the 2019 observe season till March 2021.

As he was additionally transitioning from transferring from Fast Metropolis Christian to Fast Metropolis Stevens, not a lot of his coaching modified all through that troublesome time, however the truth is he grew to become higher on the observe, competing towards a brand new surroundings of athletes.

“Being on an even bigger group and having extra guys to coach with makes the method just a little extra enjoyable and that has been translating into my performances,” Birnbaum mentioned. “However nothing’s too particular with my coaching these previous few years, in my view. I’ve simply been in a position to keep harm free and that comes with understanding my physique and understanding my limits. I may not run as many miles as the highest guys within the nation, however I’m rarely harm and consistency is vital.”

As Birnbaum does all the pieces in his grasp to stay constant and get probably the most out of himself every day, he constantly units new objectives he needs to perform and with the state meet lower than two weeks in the past, he’s aiming at including extra state titles to his already spectacular resume.

“The following step is the state meet for me,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I’d prefer to have 4 state titles and a group title. I would like probably the most titles attainable for the Raiders.”