FAMILY TIES — Stephanie Peterson of Apple Valley (left) congratulates her son Asher Peterson after he completed the 2-mile run during Saturday’s 44th annual Fairmont Community Education & Recreation Summer Run on Bob Bonk Track in Fairmont. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

FAIRMONT — Stephanie (Dubke) Peterson’s road-racing resume during the past decade is impressive, to say the least.

The 1994 Fairmont High School graduate, who makes her home in Apple Valley, has run in 10 marathons — including four times at the world-reknown 26.2-mile event in Boston. Peterson also has demonstrated her athleticism and versatility by competing in an Iron Man competition in Arizona.

Stephanie Peterson returned to her home town on Saturday, and along with her 7-year-old son Asher, competed in their first-ever Fairmont Community Education & Recreation Summer Run.

“I thought it’d be fun to run in Fairmont and here we are,” said Peterson, who ironically did not compete in either cross country or track & field at the varsity level during her high school days.

“A friend of mine was training for a marathon about 20 years ago, and got me to thinking I should try to run one,” Peterson explained. “It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I started taking running seriously and began training for half and full marathons, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Peterson captured 12th place overall during the 5-mile run by crossing the finish line at Bob Bonk Track in a time of 35 minutes, 59 seconds.

While Stephanie Peterson placed fourth overall in the female division of the Summer Run’s longest race and won her age bracket, the veteran half-marathoner thoroughly enjoyed every step of her son’s 2-mile race from start to finish.

“It’s his first 2-mile race running solo,” Stephanie Peterson said in reference to Asher’s 15th-place overall showing with a time of 15:10.

“We don’t see many runners that young (age 7) competing in the 2-mile race here, so that’s impressive,” said Martin County West/Butterfield-Odin Public Schools cross country coach Stannetta Svoboda, who’s also a three-bracket 5-mile record-holder at the annual race.

While Svoboda helped keep the summer event running smoothly from a race worker and organizer’s perspective, Jennifer (Feely) Bromeland broke her tie with the Maverick Warriors’ mentor by garnering her fourth Summer Run age-bracket record on Saturday.

“I’ve been running this race for a long time,” said Bromeland, who eclipsed Fairmont co-head cross country coach Holly Neusch’s previous 40-49 divisional mark of 14:05 with an eighth-place overall time of 13:26 in the 2-mile race.

Bromeland also holds the Summer Run’s 2-mile record in the 30-39 bracket (12:02), the 5-mile mark in the 19-25 division (30:39) and the 5-mile’s top time (32:36) in the 33-39 bracket.

Fairmont senior-to-be Gavin Artner proved his multi-tasking mettle and stamina by producing top-three showings in both the 5-mile run and 2-mile race on Saturday.

Artner kicked off his double-edged challenge by posting a time of 30:49 to earn overall runner-up honors to 5-mile champion Ryan Pierson, who covered the distance in 27:47. Pierson, a senior-to-be who will compete for Svoboda’s MCW/BOPS cross country program this fall, improved on his second-place showing to South Dakota State University runner Mason McDonald during the 2022 event’s 5-mile race. Pierson captured 12th place in 16:31.9 during last fall’s Minnesota State High School League’s Class A state cross country meet.

Similar to Pierson, Artner placed third in the 2-mile run to a pair of collegiate long-distance specialists — University of Sioux Falls’ Juan Castaneda of St. James and SDSU’s Andrew Moeller of Fairmont — on Saturday. Castaneda crossed the finish line in 10:14, Moeller pocketed second in 10:32, while Artner generated a bronze-medal time of 11:42.

“I wanted to go under 30 (minutes) in the 5-mile, and I was close,” said Artner. “It was a great day to run, and I’m looking forward to getting back out on the course for my senior year of cross country when practice starts in about two weeks (Aug. 14).”

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2023 Fairmont CER Summer Run

5-Mile Run: 1. Ryan Pierson (18U) 27:47; 2. Gavin Artner (18U) 30:49; 3. Alex Otten (19-25) 31:15; 4. Brier Lenort (18U) 32:20; 5. Carson Strukel (18U) 32:36; 6. Patrick Vogel (19-25) 32:45; 7. Alexis Cummins (18U) 34:22; 8. Corey Goodrich (33-39) 34:28; 9. Laura Thompson (19-25) 35:47; 10. Lindsey Young (19-25) 35:47; 11. Cooper Gudahl (18U) 35:54; 12. Stephanie Peterson (47-53) 35:59; 13. Mike Trushenski (47-53) 36:00; 14. Andrew Haugen (18U) 36:18; 15. Aiden Bauer (18U) 36:49; 16. Leah Hartung (33-39) 37:09; 17. Ben Moeller (18U) 38:21; 18. Matthew Bauer (33-39) 40:44; 19. Hadassah Burnison (33-39) 43:32; 20. Dan Engeman (54-60) 46:46; 21. Dan Birkholz (70 & over) 49:10; 22. Tiphanie Izen (26-32) 49:10; 23.

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2-Mile Run: 1. Juan Castaneda (20-29) 10:14; 2. Andrew Moeller (20-29) 10:32; 3. Gavin Artner (16-19) 11:42; 4. Isaiah Peters (30-39) 11:43; 5. Jaydon Putney (16-19) 12:07; 6. Hannah Neusch (20-29) 12:49; 7. Landon Weber (16-19) 13:24; 8. Jennifer Bromeland (40-49) 13:26; 9. Brian Craig (60-69) 14:02; 10. Carys Gudahl (16-19) 14:04; 11. Jennaya Bauer (15U) 14:22; 12. Drake Nelsen (15U) 14:42; 13. Dayton Draper (15U) 14:48; 14. Cooper Gudahl (16-19) 14:48; 15. Asher Peterson (15U) 15:10; 16. Andrew Haugen (16-19) 15:16; 17. Ben Moeller (16-19) 16:05; 18. Erik Burnison (30-39) 16:09; 19. Mark Peters (70 & over) 16:10; 20. Tom Plocker (60-69) 16:29; 21. Madison Howard (15U) 17:38; 22. Ben Artner (40-49) 17:41; 23. Bob Bonk (70 & over) 18:45; 24. Hezekiah Kahler (15U) 19:25; 25. Season Kotewa (16-19) 19:25; 26. Esther Zech (30-39) 20:17; 27. Jeremy Howard (40-49) 22:53; 28. Clint Forsbrook (70 & over) 28:46.

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Half-Mile Run: 1. Isaac Howard (11U) 3:04; 2. Clayton Hudson (11U) 3:08; 3. Charlee Koenecke (11U) 3:23; 4. Lila Klunder (11U) 3:52; 5. Hayden Hartung (11U) 4:29.

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Quarter-Mile Run: 1. McRea Bromeland (8-9) 1:23; 2. Henry Hartung (7U) 1:25; 3. Beatrice Bromeland (7U) 1:40; 4. Jack Busiahn (8-9) 1:40; 5. Alexis Toothaker (7U) 1:42; 6. Anneka Klunder (8-9) 1:46; 7. Jace Busiahn (8-9) 1:48; 8. Levi Nelson (8-9) 1:51; 9. Carson Clayton (7U) 1:52; 10. Ezra Gruba (7U) 1:57; 11. Hayden Hartung (7U) 2:01; 12. Stephanie Botorogeany (8-9) 2:16; 13. Rhys Wokasch (8-9) 2:27; 14. Rowan Wokasch (7U) 2:27; 15. Anne Botorogeany 2:40.