Area athletes win three individual events, four relays to kick off state meet

[ASFN Admin]

SIOUX FALLS — Watertown and Aberdeen area athletes combined to win seven events during the opening day of the 2026 South Dakota State High School Track and Field Championships on Thursday, May 28 at Howard Wood Field.

Junior Charlie Whiting of Watertown (Class AA boys' pole vault, 15 feet), senior Taryn Hermansen of Aberdeen Central (Class AA girls' shot put, meet record 47 feet, 3 inches) and Iroquois-Lake Preston senior Hadlee Holt (Class B girls' discus, 139-7) each won individual events. Hermansen and Holt each repeated as state champions in their events.

Four area relay teams also won events, including Sioux Valley's boys in the Class A medley (3:32.07), Deubrook Area's boys in the Class B 3,200-meter relay (8:21.66), Ipswich's girls in the Class B 3,200 relay (9:46.88) and Northwestern's girls in the Class B medley (4:13.02). The Sioux Valley and Northwestern teams each set meet records.

Relay runners for winning area teams included Mitchell Guthmiller, Hunter Steinhaus, Brady Hiltunen and Carson Wosje of Sioux Valley; Josh Mitchell, Luke Jorenby, Charlie Olsen and Josh Moberg of Deubrook Area; Kalynn Oban, Isabella Galbraith, Madisyn Gellhaus and Marley Guthmiller of Ipswich; and Brenna Halvorson, Rachel Melius, Elexis Kramp and Ella Boekelheide of Northwestern.

Finals were held in only two running events (relays, all three classes of boys and girls) along with a total of 15 field events broken up between the various classes and divisions.

A number of area athletes and relay teams qualified for finals with strong showing in prelim events, including Deuel senior Oliver Fieber. He set a meet record by running the top time (10.6 seconds) in the Class A boys' 100-meter dash.

The meet continues through Saturday, May 30.

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Other area placewinners and/or final qualifiers in prelim events on Thursday included:

Class AA Boys​

• Pole Vault — 5. Asher Young, Watertown, 14-0; 6. (Tie) Evan Sichmeller, Aberdeen Central, 13-6.
• Medley Relay — 8. Watertown (Dominic Zaug, Noah Dagel, Dylan Selchert, Dane Stark), 3:36.85.
• 400 Relay Prelims — 5. Aberdeen Central.

Class AA Girls​

• Shot Put — 2. Malia Kranz, Watertown, 39-3.75.
• Triple Jump — 6. Lucy Fritz, Aberdeen Central, 35-9.75.
• 400 Relay Prelims — 2. Watertown; 3. Aberdeen Central.
• 100 Hurdles Prelims — 2. Mya Arampatzis, Aberdeen Central.
• 100 Dash Prelims — 3. Alayna Smith, Watertown; 6. Anna Hirtz, Watertown.

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Class A Boys​

• Medley Relay — 6. Groton Area (Lincoln Krause, Jordan Schwan, Keegen Tracy, Jayden Schwan), 3:37.27.
• High Jump — 5. Lucas Johnson, Great Plains Lutheran, 6-2.
• Shot Put — 2. Lawson Novy, Milbank, 54-2.75; 3. Matthew Mount, Webster Area, 53-11.75; 6. Taiton Boersma, Elkton-Lake Benton, 50-4.75; 7. Kellen Pfitzer, Mobridge-Pollock, 50-4; 8. Michael Severson, Clark-Willow Lake, 50-1.75.
• 400 Relay Prelims — 2. Deuel.
• 110 Hurdles Prelims — 8. Harley Zemlicka, Milbank.
• 100 Dash Prelims — 1. Oliver Fieber, Deuel; 6. Keegen Tracy, Groton Area; 8. Colt Beck, Elkton-Lake Benton.

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Class A Girls​

• Medley Relay — 4. Clark-Willow Lake (Jennifer Bevers, Johanna Vandersnick, Cadence Bochek, Kamryn Nesheim) 4:11.5.
• Pole Vault — 3. Hannah Cutshaw, Deuel, 11-7; 5. Lauryn Peterreins, Deuel, 10-7; 7. Jacy Dexter, Milbank, 10-1; 8. (Tie) Raina Untalan, Milbank, 10-1.
• Javelin — 5. Amari Ward, Sioux Valley, 114-4; 8. Rylee Dunker, Groton Area, 112-2.
• High Jump — 4. (Tie) Emma Gorvin, Sioux Valley, 5-2; 7. Jaelee Grupe, Britton-Hecla, 5-2.
• 100 Hurdles Prelims — 8. ivy Jaacks, Elkton-Lake Benton.
• 100 Dash Prelims — 7. Bentley Bauer, Mobridge-Pollock.

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Class B Boys​

• 3,200-Meter Relay — 8. Faulkton Area (Logan Niederbaumer, Max Martinmaas, Cole Noon, Korbin Stark), 8:41.17.
• Medley Relay — 5. Herreid-Selby Area (Kaleb Claymore, Porter Gregg, Tyson Schumacher, Gavin Hirsch), 3:43.65; 7. Wilmot (Carson Jurgens, Maddux Foss, Tyler Heinje, Ethan Schwenn), 3:45.42.
• Long Jump — 3. Dylan Hofer, Aberdeen Christian, 20-8.5; 7. Jesiah Baum, Warner, 19-10.75.
• Discus — 5. Weston Senn, Faulkton Area, 141-10; 8. Grant Wilkinson, De Smet, 138-2.
• Pole Vault — 2. Brody Davis, Ipswich, 13-3; 3. Chays Mansfield, Warner, 13-3; 5 Easton Bruns, Warner, 12-9; 6. Jake Burns, Arlington, 12-9; 7. Paxton Johnson, Warner, 12-3; 8. Seth DeRaad, Ipswich, 12-3.
• 400 RelayPrelims — 7. Aberdeen Christian.
• 110 Hurdles Prelims — 2. Brody Bass, Castlewood; 4. Spencer Melius, Faulkton Area; 6. Beckham Cantalope, Warner; 7. Owen Anderson, De Smet.
• 100 Dash Prelims — 1. Kyle Hettich, Ipswich; 2. Logan LaBrie, Hitchcock-Tulare; 6. Rogan Albrecht, De Smet; 7. Dylan Hofer, Aberdeen Christian.

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Class B Girls​

• 3,200 Relay — 2. Deubrook Area (Neely Gustad, Kylee Johnson, Kaylee Brown, Nora Olsen) 9:48.89; 3. Gettysburg (Finlee Heien, Paige Ahlemeier, Jadyn Ahlemeier, Emma Schlachter) 10:09.66; 6. Warner (Haivyn Schuchardt, Katelyn Wirth, Shaye Sauerwein, Reese Holm), 10:12.38.
• Medley Relay — 6. Deubrook Area (Presley Quail, Gustad, Johnson, Olsen), 4:20.85; 7. Ipswich (Brianna Geditz, Sophia Knittel, Shawna Henderson, Guthmiller) 4:20.9.
• Long Jump — 2. Brenna Jochim, Herreid-Selby area, 16-11.75; 4. Kaydee Mackner, Warner, 16-3.
• Discus — 3. Ivey Schoenfelder, De Smet, 115-2; 4. Audi Currier, De Smet, 113-4; 5. Kiana Schmit, Deubrook Area, 112-10; 6. Jillian Fischer, North Central, 111-9.
• 400 Relay Prelims — 5. North Central; 6. Warner; 8. Langford Area.
• 100 Dash Prelims — 4. Jochim; 7. Paytyn Marlow, Langford Area.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Opening-day highlights from state track meet

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