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Northern State’s Renea Taylor ran her two best times ever in the 400-meter hurdles and it earned her a fourth-place finish during the 2026 NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field Championships Saturday, May 23 in Emporia, Kan.
Taylor opened the event with 58.69 seconds in the opening round of the women’s 400s Friday, May 22 helping her to a seventh-place finish and a spot in the finals.
“Look, I had no expectations before the race and maybe that was why I just had this weirdly calm feeling going into it,” Taylor said. “Usually it’s a gut-wrencher but there were no nerves and my legs felt maybe the best they had all year. I thought if I could get to right around 58 I’d have a chance to make the finals.”
Taylor set another personal-best time with a 58.32 in the finals that secured the fourth place finish and was named First Team All-American.
“You know, again, just an oddly calm feeling before the finals, but what really helped was where I started,” she said. “In the first round I started on the outside lane, and I hate outside lanes. In the finals I was in lane No. 2. I like having racers on either side of me because I like to chase people. I was just thinking ‘Alright Renea, it’s where you wanted to be and you need to give it everything you have.’ I would have crawled across the finish line if I had to.”
Taylor said her final race of her Northern career couldn’t have ended much better.
“Oh yeah, my parents were there, my boyfriend, all four coaches, my teammates were there and I couldn’t have thought of a much better way to end my career,” she said. “I fought my way back from two (ankle) surgeries and it was such a great feeling to prove that not only could I compete again, but compete in the NCAA’s. This is special, no question.”
Aberdeen Central’s Josiah Grandpre lines up a forehand during his flight No. 3 doubles match at the Class AA State Tennis Tournament in Rapid City. He and his partner Grayson Rehder took the ninth-place consolation championship Friday, May 22. Photo courtesy South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
Central’s Grandpre, Rehder net three consolation championships at state tennis
Josiah Grandpre and Grayson Rehder combined for three ninth-place wins during the Class AA State Tennis Tournament Friday, May 22 in Rapid City.
Grandpre got the Flight No. 3 singles consolation championship with a 10-4 win over Asher Vandewater of Sioux Falls Jefferson. He trailed Vandewater 4-1 then rallied off nine-straight games to get the win.
Grandpre and Rehder picked up the consolation championship at Flight No. 3 doubles. They defeated Jefferson 10-8. Rehder added a consolation title as well in Flight No. 6 singles defeating Shaurya Sehgal of Brookings 10-4.
Dawson Pederson also picked-up a win in the consolation championship match when he defeated Mitchell’s Matthew Mauszycki 10-5.
Central finished in 11th place in the team standings with 80 points. O’Gorman, in one of the closest team results in recent history, edged-out Harrisburg 484-482 for the team championship
Aberdeen Circus baseball opens with come-from-behind win
The Aberdeen Circus amateur baseball team rallied for a 7-5 win over Parkston Sunday, May 24 at Fossum Field.
WolfDon Thorson hits a single for the Aberdeen Circus during a 7-5 win Sunday, May 24 a Fossum Field. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
The Circus trailed 3-0 after two innings but answered with four runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to take a 4-3 lead.
Parkston regained the lead in the top of the sixth with two runs before the Circus rallied in the bottom of the inning.
The go-ahead run was driven home by Colton Cox. Cox beat out and infield single to the hole at shortstop allowing Jaden Smith to score to make it a 6-5 lead. Cox scored an insurance run and an RBI single by Rafael Clemente.
“It felt like we were reinventing the wheel a little bit out here today, just trying to knock some of the rust off from when we played last year,” Cox said. “I knew if I could make it to first we’d have a chance to get the go-ahead run so it was just a matter of fighting through the pain to get there.”
Evan Brandt pitched three innings of scoreless baseball and said opening the season with a win after a year off was just what they hoped for.
“After a long winter, with guys not doing too much baseball-wise until today, it felt really good to get a win for sure,” Brandt said. “It took us a bit to get going but we’ve got talent on this team and at some point it will come through and help us as we go.”
Aberdeen returns to the diamond Saturday, May 30 at Renner.
Aberdeen Central’s Abby Frank delivers a pitch against Tea Area Thursday, May 21 inside Koehler Hall of Fame Field. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
Central softball ends season with loss to Tea Area
Aberdeen Central could not avoid crooked numbers by Tea Area and fell 18-2 in its final game of the 2026 season Thursday, May 21 inside Koehler Hall of Fame Field.
Central ended the year with a 2-17 record.
“You know, I thought offensively we had a pretty good day getting runners on, we just weren’t able to find those few hits that would have driven (runs) in,” said Central head coach Cassiday Neer. “Tea made some pretty good plays in big moments that prevented us from capitalizing when we needed to.”
Aberdeen Central’s Estelle Riggs slides home and beats the tag by Tea Area’s Allie Wallum to score a run on the bottom of the third inning Thursday, May 21 inside Koehler Hall of Fame Field. Central lost the game 18-2. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
Tea plated six runs in the top of the first inning. Central answered with a run in the bottom of the inning but Tea responded with four runs in the top of the second and seven in the top of the third.
The Golden Eagles got one back in the bottom of the third. Estelle Riggs hit a triple to the wall in right field then scored on a fielder’s choice.
“I think the last time I legged-out a triple was probably rec-league maybe two years ago,” Riggs said, smiling. “I really wanted it to go over the fence but when I watched it I knew it wasn’t going to, so at that point I was hoping it went over the outfielder’s head so I could keep running, and it did.”
Neer said after the game one of the things she talked to her team about was the focus needed to be competitive.
“We just need to lock-in mentally when we get between the lines and we need to have kids who are saying ‘I want to be the one who makes a play,'” she said. “This group is so much fun to be around before the game but we need to take that enthusiasm and turn it into a competitive edge and apply it to the game.”
Riggs, a freshman, said despite the results the team did start to play better against very good competition.
“We need to improve on making plays defensively,” she said, “But I also feel that from the start of this season until the end we got better. We’re not a completely different team than we were at the beginning of the season but we improved.”
Braun medalist, Central golf takes second at Brookings Invite
Oliva Braun won medalist honors for Aberdeen Central during the Brookings Invitational Thursday, May 21. Braun shot an even-par 72 to get a two-shot win over Ari Jacobs of O’Gorman.
The Knights held off Central by two-strokes for the team win. O’Gorman finished with a 315. Central was second with a 317 and Mitchell took third with 323.
Emma Dohrer finished third with a four-over 76. Kyley Wirebaugh shot an 82 to finish 12th while Chloe Vikander shot 87 finishing 24th.
