Rangers deliver standout success

The Rangers track team put together an impressive showing this week, competing at multiple meets, earning several top place finishes and new personal records (PR).

The Rangers competed last Tuesday at the Cobbler Invite Track and Field Meet at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology O’Harra Stadium.

Alec Gelvin and Alex Stoekmann led the charge on the boys side in Tuesday’s meet.

Gelvin clocked a new personal record with a time of 24.29 seconds in the 200 to earn seventh place.

He also helped power the 100 relay team alongside Alan Harvey, Mason Buehler and Jerrad Hislop  to a fourth-place finish with a time of 47.26.

The sprint medley relay team consisting of Ryker Brown, Valentin Flores, James DuBois and Barret Bush delivered a strong performance, finishing second with a time of 4:07.70.

Stoekmann made his mark in the field events placing second in triple jump with a personal best of 40-9 and jumping into sixth place in the long jump (19-9).

On the girls side, Lillie Ham had a standout day winning the high jump with a 5-3 jump, a new personal best for her, and taking eighth in the 200 sprint.

Teamed with Addysen Kurtz, Maren Sobolik and Dacey Williams, Ham’s 100 relay finished seventh with a time of 57.05.

Jaelyn Peters added to the Rangers success with a strong second-place finish in the girls 800, recording a new personal best of 2:33.93. 

The Rangers kept the momentum going as they competed at both the O’Gorman Invitational meet as well as the prestigious Howard Wood Dakota Relays Friday  Saturday in Sioux Falls.

“Some competed at O’ Gorman, which was a meet on Friday for those athletes that maybe only had one event at Howard Wood or didn’t get in at Howard Wood but is a kid that’s going to compete at the state meet for us,” said head coach Joe Noyes. “We had some good things happen at O’Gorman.”

On the boys side in the open 100 Ayden Kurtz placed third with a new PR with a time of 11.67 and Nick Schroeder, who is coming off of an injury, placed sixth with 11.85.

In the 200, Buehler ran a 23.14, fast enough for second place, followed by Kurtz in fourth (23.84) and Stoekmann with an eighth place finish (24.99), all three recording new PRs respectively. 

Brensen Veneklasen ran the 110 hurdles for the first time in “over a year and half, two years,” said Noyes. “He didn’t run them last year, and he was second, and he was in the top 16 in Class A with his performance.” 

Veneklasen also ran the 300 hurdles at O’Gorman with a winning time of 42.28 and “came back the next morning to run the 300 hurdles at Howard Wood, and ran almost a second faster,” said Noyes.

“The idea of that is, just knowing what it’s like to compete on tired legs. You have to run a prelim and a final at the state meet. So for Brensen that was a great opportunity to run a race on Friday and then come back on Saturday morning and run again,” said Noyes. “So, it’s a really good way to get these kids some experience.”

In the field events, Buehler took a fifth place finish in the high jump (5-10) while Stoekmann claimed fourth in the triple jump (40-11), a new personal best.

On the girls side, Dakota Allmer had a third place finish in the 100 (13.44) and a sixth place finish in the long jump with a new PR of 16-2 1/4

Katelyn Dean clocked a personal best in the 200 with a 28.77, good for seventh, and L. Ham continued her successful week with a second place high jump of 5-0 and a new PR in the 400 (1:105.78).

The girls 100 relay team of Dean, Joy Anderson, Macie Ham and Allmer grabbed a first place win with a time of 57.29.

A group of Rangers traveled to Sioux Falls for the milestone 100th annual Howard Wood Dakota Relays last Friday and Saturday. The Howard Wood meet is a premier track and field event in the upper midwest, specifically in South Dakota. It features over 3,000 middle and high school athletes from South Dakota and surrounding states. Some of the top performers in the nation compete at this event.

Continuing a tradition started in 1978, the Dakota Relays annually rotate between the 200 and 800 special races, this year putting the male mid-distance runners and female sprinters in the spotlight. Eight runners compete in each event.

Hill City standout Tate Grabow was selected to run in the boys special 800. Grabow was ranked number two in the state going into the race and was the only junior competing in a field of senior runners. He finished in eighth place with a 1:57.43.

“He was the only junior in the field,” said Noyes. “I know the race didn’t go quite the way he wanted it to go, but we’re still really proud. We tip our hat because it took a lot of hard work, a lot of time just to qualify for that. Him being there and representing the Rangers was awesome.”

Grabow also helped the boys sprint medley relay team alongside Wiese, Schelske and Buehler, secure a first-place finish (3:37.44) and a trip to the podium. 

The boys 400 relay team (Dax Frandsen, Buehler, Veneklasen and Schelske), placed fifth with a time of 3:28.90.

The girls 800 relay team —Daril Frandsen, Aspen Veneklasen, Brook Thayer-Burke and Rarity Cournoyer—posted a  seventh place finish with a time of 9:57.51, coming within 1.5 seconds of the school record. 

“I think that’s one that they’ll take down by the end of the year,” said Noyes.

The girls sprint medley relay had a fifth place finish run by Allmer, Anderson, Dar. Frandsen and Cournoyer with a time of 4:17.86.

“It was a nice meet,” said Noyes, “I felt like our kids really showed up.”

The Rangers will keep the momentum going as they travel to Sturgis Saturday for the Black Hills Track Classic at 9 a.m.