The 2015 South Dakota Class AA Track and Field Championships began with an overcast sky and light showers. Fortunately, for a trio of outstanding area athletes, things cleared up as they picked up state titles on the first day of the state track meet at Woodle Field in Sturgis.
The Rapid City Stevens girls relay team of Jamie Schweiss, Mallory Fine, Emily Person and Kendra Dykstra captured the 4-by-800 meter relay in 9 minutes, 24.45 seconds behind an excellent first leg by Schweiss, who gave her team a 25-meter lead after the opening leg.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect today since I wasn’t feeling good this week, but all I could think about during the race was that I had to do this for my team,” Schweiss said. “I just wanted to get out quickly in the first lap and half, and I still felt good. I decided, why wait, and went for it.”
For senior Emily Person, a University of Wyoming commit who has been plagued by injuries and sickness throughout much of her final prep season, defending the relay title was a great start to the weekend.
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“This is a great way to start the state meet, especially with these girls who have worked so hard all season, and for three years actually, and to come out with an effort like this today is really satisfying,” said Person, who also placed fourth in the girls 3,200-meter run later in the day.
The win helped to propel the defending state champion Raiders (42.5 points) into a narrow lead over surprising Yankton (41), with a flock of teams — Sioux Falls O’Gorman (31), Sioux Falls Lincoln (30), Mitchell (27) and Brandon Valley (25) — positioned to make a run in Rapid City on Saturday.
The girls title may very well come down to the four relays still to be decided — the 4-by-100, 4-by-200, 4-by-400, and sprint medley — as Stevens, Sioux Falls Lincoln, and Brandon Valley all qualified teams for those races.
“We finished the day about where we thought we could be,” Stevens coach Paul Hendry said. “We had some areas where we didn’t’ get points we’d hoped for but picked it up in other areas, so we are OK. Our relay teams will have to get after it tomorrow. Brandon Valley has good teams. Rapid City Central is running well, so it should be exciting.”
Rapid City Central senior Josh Dotson stepped up big (and far) in his specialty, winning the boys triple jump with a state-meet record leap of 47-3. The top regular season triple jumper coming into the state meet, Dotson left no doubt as to the identity of the state’s best triple jumper, exceeding his best effort by a foot and a half.
“I came in wanting to break the state record, and that 47-3 jump got me ecstatic,” Dotson said. “I was pumped and my coach and my teammates were pumped about it, and though I didn’t get the (all-time state) record taking home the gold is pretty good, too."
A couple of Sturgis athletes had big days as well as defending boys 800-meter champion Jacob Simmons took control early and cruised to an easy win, setting a state-meet record as he won by nearly 30 meters in a time of 1:52.38.
“I knew I had some really good competition going in and so I figured I would take it out fast and hopefully drop them in the first 400 and it worked out pretty well,” the USD commit said. “I wouldn’t say comfortable, but I was confident in my abilities to finish well and get a good time and to get a meet record, so I’m really happy about that.”
Another Scooper senior, Klara Lyon, repeated in her specialty as well, topping the pole vault field with a leap of 11 feet, 9 inches, a win made more special by the added pleasure of closing out her prep career in front of hometown fans.
"It feels great to go over the bar and hearing that you have that big of a crowd around you was a lot of fun,” Lyon said. “My last few meets haven’t been the greatest, but I came in with the confidence I needed and vaulted pretty good with a pole that I hadn’t really been on before, but the weather got nice and it all panned out in my favor.”
The race for the Class AA boys state title, as expected, looks to be a shootout between 2014 state champion Sioux Falls Lincoln (47) and crosstown rival Sioux Falls Roosevelt (45). Watertown (28) will head to Rapid City holding down the third spot, while Spearfish, Brandon Valley, and Aberdeen Central share fourth with 19 points and Rapid City Stevens sits seventh (18).
Other event winners in Friday boys finals included Michael Keogan (Watertown, 57-01.00 in the boys shot); Nelson Chandler (Mitchell, 164-8 in discus); Lee Rose (Yankton, 21-7.75 in long jump); Kaleb Rupert-Ellis (Brookings, 14-9 in pole vault); Will Lauer (Sioux Falls Lincoln, a state meet record 8:58.49 in the 3,200), and Sioux Falls Roosevelt (7:58.30) in the 4-by-800 relay.
On the girls' side Jasmyne Cooper (Lincoln) won the girls 800 meters (2:12.72); Savannah Woods (Yankton) won the girls 3,200 meters (11:08.23); Sydney Palmer (Pierre) took the shot put (43-03.50); Emma Hertz (O'Gorman) won the discus (130.09); Emma Stewart (Yankton) captured the long jump (18-00.50); and Bre Richardson (Washington) won the triple jump (36-07.25).
The final session of the 2015 State Track and Field Meet featuring competition in all classes is scheduled for Saturday at O’Harra Stadium on the campus of South Dakota Mines. Field events finals will commence at 9 a.m. while running competitions will begin at 9:30 a.m.