Rapid City Stevens girls, Sioux Falls Lincoln boys capture AA state track titles

Rapid City Stevens girls, Sioux Falls Lincoln boys capture AA state track titles

 

By Rich Winter

    You don't win AA track titles without having outstanding team depth and the Rapid City Stevens girls and the Sioux Falls Lincoln boys are perfect examples.

    The Stevens girls racked up 101 points to outdistance cross-town rival Rapid City Central 82.5 points with Pierre, 67 points finishing third.

    The Stevens girls put it together in the short and long relays.

    Stevens won the 4x100, 49.5 with a quartet of all underclassmen. 

    The Raiders also captured gold in the 4x200 - 1:44

    On Friday, the Raiders captured the 4x800 and on Saturday the girls captured the medley relay.

    The only relay the Raiders girls didn't win was the 4x400 where they finished 5th. 

    And of course, the Raider girls showed their depth at 1600 meters where senior Tamara Gorman finished 2nd and Emily Person finished 4th. 

   Rapid City Central scored big in the field events, but couldn't match the relay power of Rapid City Stevens who wrestled the title back from Aberdeen Central. 

   Keep an eye on Pierre next season as Cortney Dowling won the 100, 200, 400 and anchored the mile relay team to a school record. Dowling set a state record in the prelims of the 200 and wowed the crowd at Howard Wood with the all-time state record in the 400 meters.

    Of note for Pierre, thrower Sydney Palmer finished 2nd in both the shot put and discus. She is only a junior, so the future looks very bright for the Pierre Governors. 

   AA boys team race:

    After watching Sioux Falls Roosevelt dominate the field events on Friday and early on Saturday, Sioux Falls lincoln came storming back to rack up 118 points to easily outdistance Roosevelt, 95 and Brandon Valley 85.5

   Lincoln sprinter Adam Belhaj got the Patriots off to a good start Saturday when he finished 2nd in the 200 meters. Belhaj came back in the afternoon to capture the 200 meters with a 22.61. Belhaj had as monster day for the Patiots as he won the 400 meters in a record time of 48.39 and just outleaned Brandon Valley's Cam Holmes, 48.4 at the tape. 

    Watertown captured the 4x100, 42.64 but Lincoln picked up six points with a 3rd place finish, 43.58.

   Brandon Valley captured the 4x200 but Lincoln picked up five more points when the finished 4th. 

   Sioux Falls Washington captured the medley relay, 3:37.41 but again, Lincoln was solid with a 2nd place finish and eight more points. 

   The Patriots, having clinched the title before the 4x400 relay, put the icing on the cake with a win in the mile relay, 3:22. 

   The Patriots kept the title in Sioux Falls though, knocking defending champion, Sioux Falls Washington off the top spot. 

    The photo for this article provided by Kernit Grimshaw - Check out his photos of the South Dakota state track meet at kernit.zenpholio.com