More PRs set in Rapid City, Belle

By Jason Ferguson

While there weren’t an overwhelming number of medals brought home by the Custer High School track team from last weekend, plenty of Wildcats set personal records and continue to approach school records.
Many of the varsity team members competed at the Track-O-Rama at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology last Friday, and were welcomed by a sun-splashed day perfect for outdoor competition.
“The highlight of the meet is that it was nice and sunny,” Custer head coach Karen Karim said with a laugh.
The Wildcats who competed took advantage of the favorable weather, including Jojo Larsen, who set personal bests in both the 100 and 200, running the races in 12.36 and 25.80, respectively. The runs were good for second in the 200 and third in the 300.
“Jojo had an awesome day. We are trying to not over race her,” Karim said, saying Larsen has been nursing a sore foot. That puts her way up at the top of the state (in rankings).
Taylor Busch sprinted her way to a second-place finish in the 400 at 1:01.64, while Torri Virtue was eighth in the discus with a top throw of 106-5.
Rounding out the places for the Wildcat girls were Ciana Stiefel, who was first in the pole vault at 12-0, and younger sister Tenlee, who was fourth at 10-3.
“We weren’t fully loaded in that meet but we had good performances from some of the kids,” Karim said.
On the boys side, Cade Lehman dominated the field in triple jump, winning the event by almost four feet with a leap of 45-8 1/4. The leap left him just short of the school record.
“He’s way further than everybody else. He’s jumping well,” Karim said. “It look like he’s improving each week.”
Robbie Emery and Carter Tennyson brought home silver medals from the meet, with Emery taking second in the pole vault with a top height of 13-9 and Tennyson clearing 6-2 in the high jump, which is also just short of a school record.
“Carter is looking awesome. He flew over 6-2 and looks like he can go higher,” Karim said. “It’s only a matter of time (before the school record falls).”
The 1600 relay team of Danny Immormino, Cade Lehman, Jackson Wiles and Drew Lehman put up a time of 3:33.58 , good for third place and one of the top times in the state in Class A this year.
Sean Shipp placed in two events, taking fourth in the 1600 at a time of 4:42.54 while finishing eighth in the 800 at 2:10.02.
Finally, Drew Lehman was fifth in the 1600 at 4:42.59.
“We are seeing times drop, which is what you want at this time of year,” Karim said.
Saturday some of the team members headed to Belle Fourche for the Center of the Nation meet, where the boys had a pair of relay teams place.
The 3200 team of Ian Schiffer, Jared Cooper, Dalton Marshall and Tyler Cooper was second at a time of 9:38.98, while the medley team of Koleden Niemann, Bret Zapp, Schiffer and Cooper was seventh at 4:34.98.
Mical Grace placed in both hurdle events, running the 110 hurdles in a time of 17.28, good for fifth place, and the 300 hurdles in 46.69, good for sixth place.
Rounding out the placing for the boys were Austin Drew, who was seventh in the 800 at a personal-best time of 2:14.84, and Bohdan Pesicka, who was seventh in the javelin at 116-9.
For the girls, Brit Wheeler won the 800, running her fastest open time of the season to date at 2:25.40.
The other individual championship came from Ciana Stiefel, who cleared 12-3 in the pole vault. Younger sister Tenlee was second with a personal record height of 10-3, and sister Kelsey made in a Stiefel sweep of the top three places by clearing 8-9, also a personal record.
Another championship came on the legs of Riley Messer, Mattea Marshall, Hailey Woodward and Keira Thorp, who combined to run the 3200 relay in 11:19.76.
Avari Dorrance finished second in the shot put with a best throw of 34-2 1/2, while Katelyn Nelson was sixth in the same event with a top throw of 30-3, which was a personal best throw. Dorrance was fourth in the discus with a top throw of 103-7, while Nelson was sixth at 97-5.
Messer picked up an individual placing in the 300 hurdles, finishing fourth at a time of 55.72, and also finished seventh in the 110 hurdles at 18.8. Both times were personal records.
Sidney Garcia placed sixth in the 1600 at a time of 6:23.02, while Rylan Lowe was seventh in the javelin with a top throw of 77-10. Lowe was also eighth in the discus with a best throw of 87-10.
Rounding out the individual placings was Addie Sander finishing seventh in both the 200 and 400 in times of 29.68 and 1:07.18, the latter of which was a personal record.
The final placing came from the medley relay team of Kadence Spaans, Robyn Jones, Thorp and Marshall, which placed fifth at 5:07.35.
The Wildcats have two meets scheduled in the coming days, starting with the Pierre American Legion Relays Friday at 11 a.m.
“You see a lot of competition. Class A and B schools from the center part of the state come, and a couple of Sioux Fall schools come over,” Karim said. “We have seen some really good competition there.”
Next Tuesday is the Northern Hills Qualifier in Belle Fourche at 11 a.m.
The Custer Invitational that was scheduled for Thursday has been cancelled due to the forecast.