Girls finish second at state meet, Schultz wins championship

Bolstered by a first place finish in the 400 relay, the Custer High School girls track team placed second in the Class A State Track Meet last weekend in Sioux Falls and Lennox.

The girls finished with 41 points, to tie St. Thomas More for second place honors. Clark-Willow Lake were state champions, compiling 55 points. The team was fighting for the state championship right down to the last race, where there was a nine point difference separating the teams at the top.

The girls’ title hopes rode on the legs of their relay teams, which had run some of the fastest times in the state. The teams ran some blazing times in the qualifiying rounds Friday, but hard luck hit the team when Ellie Parsons, who runs on four of the five teams, woke up Saturday morning and could hardly walk because of pain in her leg. That  forced Shawna Gibson into action on three relay teams.

Gibson, Taylor Neugebauer, Breezy Boldon and Allison Kostelecky combined to win the 400 relay in a time of 51.04. The same four placed fourth in the 800 relay at 1:48.67 and fourth in the medley relay at 4:29.01. The team’s medley time in the finals was five seconds slower than its qualifying time, which was the second fastest time heading into the finals. On the medley team, Victoria Dahlstrom ran the qualifying race, along with Parsons. The finals were run by Boldon, Kostelecky, Gibson and Karley Konkol.

“The difference in time is not just due to only the person subbing in,” head coach Craig Black said. “It was two long, hot days and those days took their toll on all the athletes.”

The other relay team to place was the 1600 team of Konkol, Kostelecky, Jessica Tennyson and Neugebauer. Tennyson replaced Parsons for the finals of the race. The team placed eighth, running a time of 4:15.90 in the finals, after running 4:08.28 in the qualifying round.

Individually, Tiffany Dower was the highest placing Wildcat, placing second in the shot put with a throw of 39-3 3/4. Gibson scored more points for the team by placing seventh in the 100 hurdles at 15.93, and Karley Konkol finished eighth in the 800 at 2:25.25. 

Three Wildcats finished just outside the top eight in their events. Only the top eight in each event are awarded points.

On the boys side, Custer placed 13th, led by Tyler Schultz’s state championship in the discus. Schultz uncorked a throw of 170-11 in winning the competition, which was also good for the overall gold medal in the event—the farthest throw of any class. Schultz also places second in the shot put, scoring most of the team’s 25 points. His shot put throw was 57-0 3/4.

Brandon Smith was also a double placewinner at the meet, finishing sixth in the shot put with a throw of 49-11 1/4, while finishing seventh in the discus at 154-0. Byron Dahlstrom was the other Wildcat to bring home a place from the meet, clearing 10-6 in the pole vault, good for seventh place.

Black said overall he was pleased with the season, pointing out the girls won their second conference title in school history, and the regional title, while the boys were second at conference and regions.

“I will lose some great seniors, but this is a young team that always has a bright future,” he said. “More importantly, it has just been a great season, because this is a great group of students whether they win anything or not. I am very proud of them.”