Al Spotted Of Tongue River HS Signs NLI For Track & Field And Cross Country At Black Hills St.

Tongue River High School’s Best Longest Distance Runner won’t be going too far away to continue racing.

Al Spotted has signed his National Letter of Intent (NLI) to compete in both track and field and cross country at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.

During his time at TR he was placed in the top 5 at the state cross country meet in the 2A Boys Division as a sophomore, junior and senior.

As for track and field, Spotted was the state champ in the 2A Boys 1600 meter run as a sophomore, the state champ in the 2A Boys 3200 meter run as a junior, and is this year’s state runner-up in the same event.

He says he’s been running for most of his life, going back to his early days on his family’s ranch near Wyola.

“We would always go and check cows or feed cows and we had this pasture that was up on top of a hill and he (father) would make us run the hill for exercise as soon as we started walking, he’d let us run and that’s what kind of got me into it and I started competitive running when I was in 3rd grade. Running will take you far, further than anything else out there. It will make you mentally tough. It will just get you in shape, make you a healthy system and it’s just a beautiful thing to have.”

Spotted adds he is considering a career in Physical Education.