A sweep of the sprint relays by a talented group of St. Thomas More sprinters, a couple of Northern Hills field athletes undaunted by the challenge of being top-ranked, and two eighth-graders who exceeded everybody’s expectations (including their own) highlighted the final day of action in the 90th annual Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls on Saturday.
In the relays, St. Thomas More dominated the sprints as both the boys and girls relay teams won the 4-by-100 and 4-by-200 relays. Kassidy Kirsch, Delaney Carlson, Avery White and Bailey Carlson combined to snap the Howard Wood Relays record in the girls 4-by-100 with a time of 49.70 seconds, and Shannon Duffy and Dru Gylten joined the Carlson sisters to top the 4-by-200 field in 1:45.76.
The Cavalier boys' teams were equally impressive as the quartet of Payton Oxner, Jake Aanderud, P.J. Freidel and Giles McGillick combined for wins in the 4-by-200 (1:31.28) and followed up with a school record 43.48 in the 4-by-100.
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“We are fortunate to have a lot of very talented athletes, but we do spend a lot of time working on handoffs and making sure that we move the baton around the track and try to minimize errors,” Cavalier coach Scott Benson said. “There is no secret to it. It comes down to hard work and these kids are willing to do it.”
Coming into the prestigious event with a target on your back didn’t hamper Jaxon Hinch of Spearfish, who parlayed lots of smiles and a relaxed demeanor into a personal-record performance with a winning leap of 6 feet, 8 inches in the boys high jump.
“I’m pretty laid back and I think that helps me from getting stressed out, though I was more nervous for this meet than most of them,” Hinch said. “I had just gone 6-7 coming in, and so I was hoping to get 6-8 today. That was kind of my goal, so I’m satisfied. It was actually fun since I’m not usually pushed like I was today and so it was nice having the competition.”
Klara Lyon of Sturgis, a two-time Class AA state girls pole vault champion, faced a similar challenge and responded easily, clearing 11 feet, 6 inches to beat her nearest competitor by more than a foot. Lyon credited the excellent Howard Wood vaulting facility and the chance to perform in front of a large crowd as the winning combination.
“I really like the runway that Howard Wood provides for us. It makes me feel faster and gives me more confidence in my run and my drive,” Lyon said. “... And I liked the crowd. Sometimes pole vault is off in a secluded area and nobody gets to see you, so it was nice to show the people what I can do as an athlete.”
In the “coming out of nowhere” department no one surpassed the performance of Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn, an eighth grader who moved from Lead-Deadwood to Bismarck, N.D., this past summer. The eighth-grader followed a surprising win in Friday night’s 3,200-meter run by adding the 1,600-meter crown as she ran down Ipswich standout Macy Heinz.
As for how, Shirley-Fairbairn wasn’t exactly sure.
“There is just really good competition and so I just had to get out fast and keep it up,” she said after posting a time of 4:59.89 in the 1,600, nearly 12 seconds faster that her previous best this year. “I don’t know, it was a pretty good start and I just tried to stay with the pack, and sometimes I get into it and am really strong at the end.”
Another eighth-grader, Rapid City Stevens’ Elizabeth Schaefer surprised herself as well with an outstanding time of 45.58 to win the girls' 300-meter hurdles.
“Very much so,” Schaefer said. “Actually, I wasn’t coming in with a lot of confidence, but I guess anything can happen. I just had to stay confident throughout the race. We’ve been working on the start and I haven’t been doing that very well this year, but all of sudden I guess I did. I didn’t think I would even get close to being a finalist and so it’s pretty special.”
Custer’s Tori Glazer competed in the Friday night special 800-meter event and came away disappointed with her performance. Seeking a little redemption, the Custer freshman took the baton facing a 20-meter disadvantage in her 800-meter leg of the girls Class A sprint medley relay.
She then chased down the Madison anchor on the backstretch to help her team — Billie Wicks, Sidney Snyder, Julianne Thomsen — to a Howard Wood Dakota Relays Class A record time of 4:14.38.
“I was a little worried when I saw them that far ahead of me, but when I thought how fast I can run an 800 (meters) I felt OK, and that thought kind of pushed me along,” Glazier said. “As soon as I made up my mind I could catch them I kind of knew that I had it."
Damian Hall didn’t need any Saturday validation after winning the boys special 200 the previous night. Nonetheless, the Spearfish senior added the 100-meter title to his haul as he smoked the field, winning by 3 meters in a time of 10.79 seconds.
“I guess I kind of surprised myself with what I did here, but the 100 yesterday I had a feeling that I would do well,” Hall said shortly after taking a cellphone picture of the surroundings to capture the memories. “The competition was very good and I guess it pushed me to run faster than I ever have.”