CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State College men's wrestling head coach Brett Hunter has a decorated resume. He was a two-time Nebraska state champion wrestler at Rushville High School, a two-time national champion and the all-time wins leader as an athlete at Chadron State and an RMAC champion and RMAC Coach of the Year while leading the Eagle program. But he's never done anything as difficult and strenuous as what he'll be attempting this weekend.   

Hunter has entered the 100-mile race that is the headliner of the Lean Horse Ultra Marathon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The demanding race requires participants to run straight through, without stopping, including overnight with only the aid of a headlight on their helmets. 

Hunter said he is both excited and nervous about what's ahead, and that it's something he's eager to attempt. His previous longest race was a 50-miler over the same course a year ago, and he recalls hurting all over both physically and mentally at the end.  

"I had to gut it out to finish. It was terrible," Hunter said.

Now, he's going to try to run twice as far. He knows it will be miserable, but he's steadfast in giving it his best shot. 

Entering his 14^th season as the Eagles' head wrestling coach, Hunter obviously has become much more than a casual jogger. His first distance race of note was a half marathon (13.1 miles) at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 2022.  The next year, he ran two 30-mile races in the Black Hills, and was encouraged when he won his age group and finished seventh overall in one of them. Last year he took on the 50-mile race and completed it in 11 hours and 57 minutes, placing about 30^th among the 125 entries. At age 39, he's attempting to double that mileage.

Hunter admits that during his days as one of western Nebraska's all-time outstanding wrestlers, he never enjoyed running but did it to get in shape and to make weight.  

"Back then, I thought running two to four miles was a lot," Hunter said. "When I went out for track as a high school senior, I never ran more than a half mile in a meet." 

There also are 20, 30 and 50-mile races on the same trail this weekend, but Hunter is going all out this year. Since embracing what most would never dream of attempting, Hunter has been running year-round — including days when the mercury was below zero and others when it's been around 100 degrees. For much of this summer, he's been running from 40 to 60 miles a week.      
 
The Lean Horse Ultra Marathon began 20 years ago this month and has been staged annually in August ever since. The 100-mile race was the 33^rd of that distance ever sanctioned in the U.S. It begins in Custer and is on the Mickelson Trail as far as Deadwood, a 50-mile distance. The 100-mile contestants will then retrace their strides back to Custer.

At last report, Hunter said the 100-mile race had 94 entries from throughout the nation and a few foreign countries. Some of them have completed king-sized jaunts "30 to 40 times," Hunter said. 

This year's race will start at the Custer YMCA at noon on Friday. The runners must cross the finish line at the same location by at least 8 o'clock Saturday evening, or 32 hours after the start, to receive one of the belt buckles that are awarded. Only about 30 of the buckles were passed out after last year's race, when there also were nearly 100 entries.

While running 100 miles is a draining, monotonous journey, Hunter will not be alone. Each runner is allowed to have three cohorts run as pacers alongside him in shifts during the last 50 miles. The CSC coach's companions will be past or present CSC wrestlers.

Seth Groff, a four-year starter at 125 pounds for the Eagles in the early 2000s is coming from his home at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and will meet up with Hunter at about 2 a.m. Saturday to run the first of the three jaunts, or about 18 miles. Groff "has been there and done that" himself, completing a 100-mile race this spring in Florida.

Next up will be 2025-26 CSC senior Keegan Gehlhausen of Pinedale, Wyoming, who was the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Tournament's silver medalist at 184 pounds this past March. Hunter says the rangy Gehlhausen "can run forever" and is a determined athlete.  

Hunter's final sidekick will be Jake Holscher, an Ogallala native and CSC wrestling alum who has competed in numerous marathons, mountain bike races and triathlons—some of them more than 100 miles. He took on a bigger challenge in 2014 when he finished third among U.S. entries in the 3,000-mile "Race Across America" on a bicycle. Another special feat saw Holscher swim the English Channel from England to France in 2023 during his first attempt.

"Jake has done some amazing things," Hunter noted. "I want him to be there to keep me going when I'm trying to complete this. We've been in touch ever since I decided I would enter this race."

There are restrictions on how much the companions can do. They can't provide extra lighting at night, carry the contestants' water containers or even help them up if they stumble. Hunter added he's grateful CSC's assistant athletic director Ted Tewahade has volunteered to make the trip with him to provide extra assistance if it's needed.  

The route is billed as "one of the best non-technical courses" in the United States and is also tabbed as one of the most scenic. The trail was converted from an abandoned railroad bed to a surface of crushed limestone and features gentle slopes, with the elevation ranging from 5,316 to 6,262 feet.