Bad weather slows times in Sturgis

Less than ideal weather made for less than ideal times and distances at the Black Hills Track Classic, held last Saturday in Sturgis.

Cool, damp, windy weather was the order of the day throughout the meet. Despite that, however, the Custer High School track team still managed to get three more state qualification marks posted.

Among those were Greg Witt, who continues to better his shot put throws as the season progresses. Witt threw a personal best distance of 51-11 at the meet, good for third place and automatic qualification for state. 

Two girls qualified for the state meet, led by Karley Konkol adding a third state qualification to her resume, this time in the 400. She placed fourth in the event with a time of 1:00.84. Konkol has already qualified for the state meet in the 800 and 1600, and head coach Craig Black said whether or not she will run all three individual races and relays at the state meet has yet to be determined.

“I don't know if we will run Karley in the 400 or not,” he said. “We haven't figured out our strategy for state yet this year.”

The final ’Cat to qualify for the state meet was Mattie Kelley, whose time of 12:10.81 in the 3200 was good for fourth place at the meet.

Jared Thomsen continued his hurdle mastery at the meet for Custer, winning the 110 hurdles in 15.39 and also winning the 300 hurdles in 42.09. Cody Herman also brought home a championship, outrunning some impressive competition to win the 1600 in a time of 4:32.23.

Fresh off his state record performance two weeks ago, Tyler Schultz once again won the shot put with a long throw of 65-1. He also placed third in the discus with a toss of 176-6. Witt placed fifth in the same event with a throw of 145-0.

Brennan Witt placed in a pair of events, finishing fifth in the 400 with a time of 52.02, while coming in eighth in the 800 at a time of 2:05.98. Chad Bryant also placed in a pair of events, finishing third in the 200 at 23.63 and eighth in the long jump at 18-3 1/2. Rounding out the individual places for the boys were Logan Burns, fifth in the 3200, Joel Thomsen fifth in the 300 hurdles and Shane Herman eighth in the 3200.

The boys had one relay team win its event, as the 3200 team of Matt Dvorak, Israel Parsons, Kenneth Myers and Logan Huntington crossed the finish line with time of 8:44.90.

Two Wildcat relays came in second. The 400 team of David Hernandez, Tanner Eiesland, Jared Thomsen and Bryant ran a time of 45.75, while the 1600 team of Bryant, Witt, Jared Thomsen and Joel Thomsen posted a time of 3:36.52. The medley relay team of Hernandez, Huntington, Kenneth Myers and David Gaston was fourth at 3:59.06.

For the girls, Sam McNeel was the only other Wildcat to earn an individual place, winning the long jump with a leap of 15-10 1/2.

Three relay teams for the girls placed. The 1600 team of McNeel, Konkol, Tori Dahlstrom and Billie Wicks was third at 4:21.60, while the 800 team of Monique Mack, Olivia Dahlstrom, Nykyla Malinosky and Wicks was fifth at 1:58.06. The medley team (Olivia Dalstrom, Malinosky, Wicks, Josie Engen) was seventh at 4:51.92.

The team will split up again this weekend, as some team members head east to the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls May 4-5, while other team members will head to Lead for the Mountain West Invitational.