Local high school track teams are getting into the flow of the outdoor season.
Several participated in the Orville Pfitzer Relays in Britton on Monday, April 15.
Aberdeen Christian’s Shawnteah La Croix continued her impressive start to the season. She logged two individual wins, taking the 100-meter dash in 13.22 and the 200 in 21.17. She also helped the Knights 400-meter relay squad to a win, crossing the line at 53.37.
Christian’s Ali Isakson was second in the 200, finishing in 28.58. She also won the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, 9.75 inches, a personal record.
Roncalli’s Parker Grebien was victorious in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, finishing in times of 16.69 and 43.92, respectively. Teammate Aiden Fisher was second in both races.
Rylee Voeller set a new personal record and won the discus for the Cavaliers with a throw of 104 feet.
Groton Area’s Taryn Traphagen won the 400-meter dash with a new personal best of 1:04.52 and helped the Tigers capture the 3,200-meter relay with a first-place time of 10:46.46.
Emma Kutter won the girls shot put for the Tigers with a toss of 32 feet, 7.75 inches.
Dustin Wurtz of Leola won the boys shot put and was second in the discus. His heave of 50 feet, 8 inches in the shot put was a personal best.
Local athletes find success in Milbank
Local track athletes also found success at the South Dakota National Guard Invitational Friday, April 12 in Milbank.
On the boys side, the host Bulldogs took home the top spot in the team race with 165 points, followed by Aberdeen Roncalli (87) and Border West High School (85.5) from Wheaton, Minn.
Milbank also took first on the girls side with 138 points. Groton Area was a close second with 131, followed by Border West in third with 119.5.
Northwestern sophomore Ella Boekelheide, a distance specialist who took second at the State B state cross-country meet in fall, finished in the girls 3,200-meter run in a winning time of 11:23.88.
She did not run the 1,600 despite that race being one of her strengths.
“I was just excited to see how it would go getting outside, and I’m really happy with it,” Boekelheide said. “I’m just seeing how things are playing out. The mile is so solid and it’s always been what I’ve done, so it will be really hard to kick that out (not run that race), but you never know.”
If Friday was an indication, that may be the case.
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Boekelheide decided to give a shorter race a shot, running the 400-meter dash for the first time at a meet. Not surprisingly, she won it in a time of 1:01.10.
“I really love the 400, it’s a really fun race, so I figured today why not switch it up and bit and throw it in instead of running the mile one of these times,” Boekelheide said. “I’ve done the (four by) 400 relay and pretty much train the same way — try to get more strides in, make sure the legs are warmed up — and add a little more of a sprint workout to my training.”
Boekelheide also ran the second leg of the 3,200-meter relay, helping the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish.
Groton Area girls have great day in relays
Groton had a very good day on the track, highlighted by an impressive performance from its girls relay teams.
The Tigers won both the 400- and 3,200-meter races. They took second in the 800-meter and 1,600 sprint medley relays and finished fourth in the 1,600-meter relay.
Freshman Kella Tracy was a member of four of those relay teams — the 400, 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
It was her first opportunity to race outdoors, and while she acknowledged early meets are for building wind and getting timing down on the baton exchanges, she was keen on the 800-meter relay. Groton finished 0.55 second behind Milbank.
“It was a good race. I knew (Siera) Wenzl usually beats me, but if I didn’t let up, I think I could have beat her, so it definitely could be better next time, for sure,” Tracy said.
Being outside also allowed her and others to take time between races and get to know something about each other.
“Competing and meeting new girls when I’m sitting just off the track waiting for our race to start and talking to them and getting to know them is probably the best part,” Tracy said. “Teams from North Dakota, Minnesota who we don’t see usually, those are new runners I get to know.”
There’s a little gamesmanship amongst the runners when it comes to revealing just how fast they are.
“Before I end a conversation I always ask, ‘What’s your PR (personal record)?’ so I get an idea how fast they are and how hard I need to go or not go,” Tracy said.
Which begs the question, do they lie?
“Oh, yeah, they definitely lie. But you don’t actually tell them your real time so then they’re like, ‘Oh, I can beat her,'” Tracy said, laughing.
Roncalli boys cap solid day with second-place team finish
Three individual second-place finishes helped Aberdeen Roncalli take second in the boys division.
Grebien had a very good day in the hurdles. He took second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.45. He followed that up with a second in the 300 hurdles, finishing in 43.42.
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Grebien was pleased overall, but said the nature of outdoor meets doesn’t allow for much retrospective until the bus ride home.
“This was our first meet, so I was a little nervous coming in,” he said. “I was also psyching myself out a bit, knowing I have to run a 400 relay after (the 300) hurdles, so you kind of have to turn the switch pretty quick and get ready for a race way different from the hurdles.”
As for how he approaches his individual races, it basically starts with getting over the first hurdle.
“You start the race to that first hurdle and basically once you hit it you need to maintain that stride,” Grebien said. “I’ve been focusing on form a lot more. Last year, after the season started, I switched the lead leg I jump with. This year I’ve been able to focus on that, and I’ve worked on that same leg over and over and got my technique down a lot better. Overall, I think I did pretty good today and I’m ready to try and get better.”
Roncalli freshman Matt Peterson also took part in multiple events, including one in which the discipline is much different than the others.
Peterson began the day at the pole vault, first clearing 9 feet, 6 inches. He then ran the 400-meter leg of the 1,600 sprint medley relay, only to return to the pole vault to clear 10 feet, 6 inches, a new personal best. He finished second, and teammate Beau Price was third.
“Pole vault is my main focus for sure. Track (running events) I do that mostly because I get told to,” Peterson said. “I mean, I do like it, I do, but I kind of want to focus more on the pole vault. But, hey, you do what Coach asks you to. Gotta be a team player, you know.”
Peterson, who runs cross-country in the fall, has some understanding on how to prepare for a race, but he’s also aware he needs to pace himself for the pole vault.
“Running cross-country, I always try and go out hard at the start, but at the same time don’t put too much into it,” Peterson said. “With the vault, it’s basically a 20-meter sprint, so I can switch between the two. I just know pole vault is my thing, so it’s not hard to go from running to taking the pole and getting over that bar.”
Roncalli head track coach Brady Lesnar said the results were generally better than expected due in part to the sunny, warm weather that can’t be depended on in April.
“The weather today is really ideal and not what we get a lot, usually, this time of year, so it lets your athletes really get a chance to push and see where they are,” Lesnar said. “We’re seeing a lot of good come from today. Parker had a really good day with the hurdles, our boys four-by-800 relay team ran exceptionally well and already ran four seconds faster than the time they qualified for state last year, so that’s a good thing to see early.”
Some other notables for Roncalli were Tom Niederbaumer, who set a new PR in the javelin with a throw of 115 feet, 2 inches, which helped him to a second-place finish. Joe Perkins finished third in the 800, setting a new personal best in a time of 2:05.56.
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On the girls side, Mataya Henrich also set a new PR in the pole vault, clearing 7 feet. Henrich one of just a few members of the Roncalli girls team participating in the meet as many were involved with an after-school project
“We had a bunch of girls taking part in the school play, so our girls team is obviously not our full squad, for sure,” Lesnar said.
Golden Eagles battle through wind for solid day in Brookings
In what head boys coach Greg Murley described as “windy as heck” conditions, Aberdeen Central took part in the Brookings Quadrangular Monday, April 15.
The Eagles had some impressive performances in the suboptimal weather. Colby Dauwen and Grant Fritz finished first and second in the 400-meter dash. Dauwen’s time of 53.50 was a new PR, however Murley said “pump the brakes” on seeing that as a regular event for the junior.
“To be honest, you probably won’t see Colby run that again,” the coach said. “He’s ranked very high in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, and considering those two events are usually run back to back, we’d rather save him for the hurdles.”
Murley was pleased with Fritz’s performance.
“Grant really took it home for us,”Murley said. “He had a good day winning the open 400, then coming back to help our four-by-400 relay take another first.”
Jack Bertsch finished first in the discus with a personal-best mark of 147 feet, 5 inches, while Christian Wells won the 3,200-meter run in 10:57.85.
It was the third outdoor meet for the Golden Eagles who, Murley said, have competed in “cold, hot and windy” conditions, in that order. He likes the improvement he’s seen.
“We’re relatively young and so a lot of the kids haven’t had to be the man yet in their events. I really do like how the kids are maturing as we go, and I don’t think there’s any question they’ve gotten better each time out,” he said.
Jim Appl has seen similar improvement from his girls squad.
“It was a pretty solid day despite the windy conditions,” Appl said. “We had a handful of kids get new PRs, but what I really liked was how we came back after competing Saturday in Mitchell. It’s not easy coming back after a day, but I like what I saw (Monday). Now, we’re just looking for a little bit of rest before we head back out.”
Senior Ciara Frank finished second in both the 200-meter dash and 110-meter hurdles. Harrisburg’s Addie Budig won both of the events, though Appl was quick to note Frank has “closed the gap” between the two.
“(Budig) won the hurdles by over a second at state, but no doubt (Frank) is making progress on fixing that,” Appl said.
Taryn Nieman won the discus with a personal-best throw of 111 feet, 5 inches. The Golden Eagles also won the 400-meter and sprint medley relays.
Central returns to the track Friday, April 19 at the Watoma Relays in Watertown.
Central track athletes garner four wins in Mitchell
Central was at the Corn Palace Relays in Mitchell on Saturday April 14.
The boys and girls squads had two first-place finishers apiece. On the boys side, David VanVeen came away with the win in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:02.04. Dauwen won the 300-meter hurdles, crossing the line in 42.61.
The girls had two wins in field events. Taryn Hermansen won the shot put with a throw of 39 feet, 2 inches. Ciara Frank placed first in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 2 inches.
Sports news and notes
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Former Aberdeen Cougars girls hockey player Abby (Taffe) Trettin is a member of the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association class of 2024. She graduated from Central High School in 2010. During her career with the Cougars, she scored 673 goals and had 289 assists. In four years of college hockey at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., she played 105 games, scoring 42 goals and adding 43 assists. The induction ceremony was last weekend in Sioux Falls.
- The Redfield Muskrats opened their baseball season splitting their first two games. Redfield shut out Hamlin 15-0 Saturday, April 14, then fell to Parkston 11-0 on Sunday, April 15. Against Hamlin, Redfield pitcher Eli Morrissette threw a perfect four-inning game. He struck out all 12 batters. The Muskrats return to the diamond Thursday, April 18 against Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern.
- The Aberdeen Central boys tennis team lost three matches in the past week. Central fell 9-0 to Mitchell and 7-2 to Huron on Saturday, April 13. Mason Ligon at No. 2 singles and Josiah Grandpre at No. 5 singles picked up the two wins over the Kernels. The Golden Eagles fell 5-4 in Pierre on Thursday, April 11. AJ Prehn picked up the victory at No. 1 singles for Central, winning 10-4 in a super tiebreaker. Grandpre added a win at No. 6 singles. Prehn and partner Mika Dannen won their first-flight doubles match, as did Aric Tennant and Dawson Pederson at No. 3 doubles. Central hosts a triangular Friday, April 19, playing Brandon Valley at 10 a.m. and Aberdeen Roncalli at 4 p.m.
- Aberdeen Roncalli split a pair of matches Monday, April 15. Roncalli fell 9-0 to Watertown, but rallied for an 8-1 win over Sioux Falls Roosevelt. In the eight matches won, the Cavaliers dropped a total of six games.