Track team competes in Sturgis

Personal records continued to fall and state qualifications continued to be made as the Custer High School track team competed in a pair of track meets in Sturgis last week.
The Wildcats competed against large schools from around the region at last Saturday’s Black Hills Track Classic, and came home with one championship—Karyn Ellerton in the discus. Her toss of 130-0 continued her “winning ways,” head coach Karen Karim said.
Ellerton also placed second in the shot put at 36-10 1/2, while Jessica Hite was third in the same event at 35-11 1/4, which set a new personal record (PR). Rylan Lowe was third in the discus with a best throw of 112-9.
Siena Schultz continued to set PRs in the hurdles, a relatively new event for her, as she ran to a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles in a time of 48.35. Also placing fourth was the 3200 relay team of Brianna Noble, Kingsley Ludwig, Madeline Noble and Makenzi Ham at 11:10.76.
Mikayla Dennis was fifth in the 1600, running a time of 5:32.53, and was part of the eighth-place finishing 1600 relay team. She was joined by Kiran Pesicka, Ludwig and Keira Nelson to post a time of 4:31.38. Rounding out the girls placings at the meet was Ava Hohn, who was seventh in the discus with a best throw of 104-11.
On the boys side, the middle distance and distance runners had a strong showing, as Kian Rusch was fourth in the 800 with a PR time of 1:58.71 while Zach Cooper was sixth in the race at 2:00.78, also a PR.
“We knew the 800 would be stacked, and it was,” Karim said. “That was a good race for Zach, too.”
Meanwhile, Adam Hohn dropped his PR in the 1600 while placing eighth with a time of 4:51.99, as did Carter Cooper in the 3200 with a time of 10:32.72, which was good for seventh.
The top boys finishers were Ezra Wollman with a top height of 13-0 in the pole vault, which was good for third place, and Lincoln Golder, who finished third in the discus with a top throw of 145-5, which was also.a PR. Golder also hit a PR in the shot put with a best throw of 45-3 1/4. That was good for sixth place.
The 3200 relay team of Saylor Rice, Conner Lundy, Will Kimball and Jared Cooper was fourth at a time of 9:06.39, while the 1600 relay team of Zach Cooper, Jared Cooper, Rusch and Daniel Wozny was fifth at 3:38.48 and the medley team of Carson Hanis, Ayden Dooley, Ian Schiffer and Lundy was fifth at 4:07.52.
Mason Dirkes placed sixth in the high jump by clearing 5-7, while Dooley was sixth in the pole vault with a top height of 12-0.
Seventh-place finishes included Dirkes in the 110 hurdles at 16.97, Wyatt DeFreece in the pole vault with a PR height of 11-6 and the 400 relay team of Dirkes, Brady Virtue, Marcus Merrill and Danny Immormino.
Eighth-place finishes included Jameson Wiles in the discus at 128-7 and Peyton Krueger in the 3200 at 10:35.60.
“I was happy to see my distance kids get their PRs. They work their tails off,” Karim said.
The May 5 meet in Sturgis was billed as a junior varsity meet but some varsity talent attended the meet to get more races and PRs under their belt.
The PRs came in droves, as Jared Cooper set a PR in the 800 in winning the race in a time of 2:12.47, while Rice set a PR in the 1600 in winning in a time of 5:03.35.
Wollman won the pole vault with a top height of 13-0, while Cheydon McPhee won the high jump with a top height of 5-9. Rounding out the gold medals was Marcus Merrill in the 100, as the freshman ran a time of 11.76.
McPhee was also second in the 110 hurdles at a time of 18.69, while Immormino was second in the 200 at 24.06. Will Kimball finished second in the high jump with a top height of 5-6.
A fourth-place finish came from the legs of Immormino, who ran the 100 in 11.89, while Rice was fifth in the 800 in a PR time of 2:16.05.
Wiles finished sixth in the discus with a best throw of 120-7, and Lundy rounded out the boys’ placings with a seventh-place finish in the 1600 at 5:09.52.
The girls didn’t take or place many girls at the meet but did get two championships, as Gloria Keller cleared a PR height of 9-0 to win the pole vault, while Ella Sheffield hit 100-4 in the discus to win gold.
Tenlee Stiefel finished in a tie for third in the high jump with a top height of 4-10, and Nelson was sixth in the 300 hurdles at 53.12.
Ludwig finished eighth in the 400 at 1:08.96.
“You like seeing the PRs. Hopefully with conference being a decent day we will get. a few more times, get into those qualifying things,” Karim said. “We’re still an awfully young team. You have a group of seniors you want to do their best, and those other kids are just getting the experience that will take them into what they need to do down the road.”
The Black Hills Conference meet is tomorrow morning at the Custer track, and while sheer numbers of athletes means Sturgis and Spearfish will likely battle it out for a conference title, Custer will look to continue to jockey for position in the state meet.
The Wildcats will wrap up their regular season next Tuesday at the Last Chance Meet at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City. Aptly named, it will be the team’s last chance to qualify for the state meet in Sioux Falls.