Dakota Relays: Meet sets a high bar

Chase Vinatieri was intent on proving that Friday was an aberration. The Roosevelt senior and SDSU football recruit ran in last night's 200 meter special as a replacement for injured teammate Taryn Christion, and carried in the top qualifying time of 21.9 seconds.

Under the bright lights of the special event billing, Vinatieri finished in 22.85 seconds for last place.

"Yesterday was a little disappointing for me — super embarrassing. I wanted to come out and show that I'm definitely better than that," Vinatieri said.

Vinatieri, a relative beginner in track and field who before had competed just twice in the 200, turned the page Saturday and never looked back.

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It started with the Class AA sprint medley, where Vinatieri's 21.8 second leadoff leg helped pace the Rough Riders to a school record time (3:31.56). Teammates Kolby Scott, Mayuen Akok, and Josh Goehring joined in on the action, which was good for the fifth-fastest effort in the medley in S.D. history.

"Chase wanted to set the tone for our medley. It took a lot to get him fired back up after last night, but he really rose to the occasion today," said Coach Jason Wagoner. "I challenged him to come back today and lead his teammates, and that's what he did."

The Riders leaned on Vinatieri again in the 400 meter relay, as the senior anchored the last leg. Roosevelt finished in 43.48 seconds, just ahead of Century-Bismarck (N.D.) at 43.79.

"My teammates all did their part — my part was just one-fourth of it," Vinatieri said. "I wanted to end on a big note, and winning that 4x1, we did it."

Akok delivered another Howard Wood title in the 300 hurdles, finding another gear as the competition faded down the stretch. Akok (39.28) edged Parkston multi-sport standout Wes Dvorak (39.28), who also finished second in the 110 hurdles behind St. Michael-Alberta's Isaiah Weston.

"Mayuen always jokes with me, 'I don't get tired, coach. I just reload and go race,' " Wagoner said. "When those kids from Century pressed him coming down the straight, he got after it again and made a huge move before that last hurdle. We're excited for what he can do for us."

Another Sioux Falls runner — Lincoln's Will Lauer — also found redemption Saturday. Lauer finished second to Joe Klecker (Hopkins, Minn.) in Friday's historic 3,200. Lauer shaved several seconds on the would-be meet record, but Klecker ran the nation's top time in the nation at 8:50 in what should go down as one of the greatest individual performances in Howard Wood history.

"I can't remember the fastest time in the nation being run in a high school event here — ever," said Lincoln Coach Jim Jarovski.

Lauer dusted off the disappointment and dug in, emerging from Saturday afternoon's 1,600 with a time nearly eight seconds better than his PR. Lauer (4:14.69) pulled away from Sturgis' Jacob Simmons (4:15.36) down the stretch. The result has Lauer looking at even bigger things come the state meet.

"For me and Jacob, going into the season we were talking about getting the state meet record — 4:09 by Rod Dehaven," Lauer said. "After today, we're excited about that. It looks pretty doable for us in a couple of weeks time."

The Lincoln boys finished second to Roosevelt in the sprint medley, and in the girls sprint medley put together four PRs to edge Brandon Valley — their nemesis all weekend — for the win. Michaela Mohr, Mollie Kersten, Caroline Sudbeck and Jasmyne Cooper turned in a time of 4:08.29.

"It's such a great day — the weather and conditions and atmosphere, and just the competitive nature of Howard Wood — you're always going to see great performances here," Jarovski said.

The Brandon Valley girls may have come up short in the sprint medley, but they held the upper edge over Lincoln in the 400, 800 and 1,600 relays. In each case, the Lynx finished first and the Patriots second.

Krista Bickley in particular had a standout day for the Lynx. Pierre's Courtney Dowling — arguably the state's premier sprinter — missed the meet because of injury, but Bickley performed well in her absence. Bickley won the 100 meter dash with a 12.46 second time ahead of Rapid City Central's Alaina Klapperich (12.58). Bickley also anchored the Lynx on the winning relay teams.

The Ipswich girls — led by standout Macy Heinz, Friday's 800 special winner — continued to display Class B dominance. Ipswich set a 'B' meet record (50.49 seconds) in the 400 relay, where Macy was joined by cousin Angela Heinz, sister Tara Heinz and Taylor Maurer. Michaelah Wheeldreyer took Tara's place in the 1,600 relay, where Ipswich won again (4:09.24).

Macy Heinz also shaved off nearly five seconds from her PR in a second-place finish in the 1,600. Lead-Deadwood transfer Mattie Shirley Fairbairn found an extra gear in the final 25 meters to pull ahead of Heinz, who holds the fastest time in the state.

"Some days you win some, some days you lose some. It was still a PR, so I can't complain about that at all," Heinz said. "I tried to sprint in, and she just had a little more than me today at the end."

Washington finished third in the boys sprint medley, and if not for a blistering final leg from Century-Bismarck's Jacob Richter, would have won the 1,600 relay. Washington's Tanner Waddell, Alipo Oluak, Alex Derr and Isaiah Feterl finished second in 3:20.72; the N.D. squad won in 3:20.50.

In the field events, Jacon Hinch (Spearfish) won the boys high jump with a 6-8 mark. Bismarck's Jon Tharaldsen won the shot put with a 59-0.5 toss ahead of Watertown's Michael Koegan (52-8.75). Mitchell's Chandler Nelson won the discuss with a toss of 178-1. Weston, the Canadian import, won the long jump (23-1.75).

On the girls side, Sturgis' Klara Lyon won the pole vault (11-6), while Huron's Shannon Katz and Mitchell's Tevyn Waddell came in second and third with 10-6 jumps. Andes Central's Payton Johanneson won the high jump (5-2). Watertown's Macy Denzer won the long jump (18-5.5).

Other meet records to fall Saturday included the boys and girls 'A' sprint medleys, the boys 'A' 3,200 relay, and the girls 'A' relay. The Custer girls won the 'A' medley in 4:14.38, the West Central boys took medley gold in 3:36.15. St. Mary's (N.D.) won the 'A' boys 3,200 relay in 8:12.28.