All Decade Team - Girls Track

This one wasn’t quite as hard as I thought it would be. A lot of these events are pretty cut and dried, thank you Tori Glazier and constant stream of awesome throwers this school produces. I did have trouble deciding who to put in the 400 spot, and had to dig some for jumpers, but once I got into the archives I found Custer did in fact have some great jumpers early in the decade. I decided against doing relay teams for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is different girls ran on different teams in the same year, or in cases such as at state, even the same meet. So that would have made things really tricky and bogged the whole thing down. With that, have a read. Custer girls had some outstanding track athletes last decade.

 

100 - Taylor Neugebauer - Class of 2010 - Custer didn’t have the strongest decade of sprinters, male or female, last decade, but Neugebauer was by far the best on the girls’ side of things. Although most of her high school career took place in the previous decade, she was the conference champion in the 100 in 2010, and the region champ in the 100 that same year. Neugebauer is tied for the school record in this event with a time of 12.6.

 

200 - Taylor Neugebauer - 2010 - Neugebauer’s best event was the 200, where she was conference champ in 2010 and conference champ the following year before finishing eighth at state in the same event that spring. She holds the school record outright in this event at 26.0.

 

400 - Tori Glazier - 2018 - It might be a secret to some that Glazier was very good at the 400. It just turns out she didn’t run it very much. This was the hardest spot on the team to place and I’m going with Glazier because the numbers don’t lie. She won the conference meet in the 400 in 2015 and in 2014 ran the third-fastest 400 in school history. For this reason she narrowly edges out Josey Wahlstrom, who has the fifth-fastest time in school history in the event and placed fourth at the state meet a year ago. Had track season occurred this spring, it’s quite possible Wahlstrom would have moved ahead of Glazier in this event. But fear not, Wahlstrom is still on the team in a different event.

 

800 - Tori Glazier - 2018 - OK, I’m going to not try to turn this into a six-page book. Glazier is not only the best half-miler in school history, but it could be argued she’s among the best in conference, region and one of the best in state history. Glazier’s accomplishments on the track, particularly in this event, are extensive. She was the conference, region and state champion in the 800 in 2013, conference and state champion in 2014, conference and state champion in 2015, region and state champion in 2016, conference and state champion in 2017 and runner-up at state in 2018. She holds multiple meet records in this event, the school record and was named the outstanding girl athlete at the 2015 Class A State Track Meet. I’m probably even leaving something off. I guess what I’m trying to say is she was good at the 800. She also holds the school record in the event at 2:13.99 as well as the Class A State Meet record.

 

1600 - Tori Glazier - 2018 - Custer had some great milers last decade, including Karley Konkol (herself a two-time state champion in the 800 and 1600 as well as owner of a state meet MVP) and Mallory Delmont, but you can’t argue with Glazier’s credentials in this event, either. She is a conference champion in the event, a two-time state runner-up in the event (2016 and 2019) and a two-time state champion in the event (2013 and 2015). This is another school record of hers as well, at 5:02.68.

 

3200 - Mallory Delmont - 2020 - Delmont did most of her damage in other races, but she was way too good of a runner to be left off this team. She had her senior season of track taken from her due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year but was plenty good her other years. Her accolades include placing first in the region in the 1600 in both 2015 and 2016, second in the region in the 800 in 2015, third at state in the 3200 in 2016, first in the conference and region in the 3200 in 2018, followed by a third-place finish in that event at the state meet that year. Last year she was second in the conference in the 800 and third at state in that event, while finishing third at state in the 800. She also has more state relay medals than I care to rattle off here. With this body of work she edges out the school record holder in the event, Sierra Oesterling, for a spot on my team.

 

100 hurdles - Julianne Thomsen - 2017 - Thomsen was the queen of hurdling for Custer High School last decade, and the 100 hurdles were Thomsen’s second-best event, behind the 300 hurdles. Even still, she was second in the conference in the event four times, was second in the region twice and region champion once. She was third at state in the event in 2015. She holds the school record in the event at 15.22.

 

300 hurdles - Julianne Thomsen - 2017 - This was Thomsen’s bread-and-butter event. She won the conference in the event in both 2014 and 2015 and was second in 2016, while also winning the event at the region meet twice. She placed at the state meet three times—taking fifth in 2016 and second in 2017. Thomsen, who holds the school record in both hurdle events, went on to run track at Chadron State College, where she now competes in both the pentathlon and the heptathlon. Thomsen also owns this school record at 45.69.

 

Discus - Jordan Menken - 2017 - What a story Menken is when it comes to throws. As the story goes, Custer High School throws coach Russ Bailey was watching Menken—who wasn’t out for track—mess around with the shot put and had her throw it. Untrained and knowing very little of what she was doing, Menken unleashed a throw that would have qualified her for the state track meet. The rest is history. Menken won the state meet in the shot put in 2016, won the shot and discus the following year at the conference meet, won the discus at the region meet and placed first in both the shot put and discus her senior year. She also won the overall gold medal in both events, which honors the farthest throws, regardless of class.

 

Shot Put - Kellyn Kortemeyer - 2022 - Kortemeyer will enter her junior year this fall as a two-time state champion in the shot put. Had COVID-19 not wiped out the entire track season, it’s probable, if not likely, she would be a three-time state champion in the event. She won the conference meet in 2018 as an eighth-grader before winning the state meet and won both the shot and discus at both the conference and region meets a year ago before winning the shot put at the state meet. She has a legitmate chance to make a run at Kris Schaffer’s school record (48-1 1/2) in this event, as she already has the third-best throw in school history, behind Schaffer and Menken.

 

Pole Vault - Josey Walstrom - 2022 - Wahlstrom also was robbed of a chance to add to her credentials this spring  like her classmate Kortemeyer. But she placed fourth in the conference in the pole vault in 2017 and sixth in 2018. Last year is when she—pardon the pun—really took off in the event, placing second at the conference meet before winning both the region and state meet in the event as a freshman.

 

Long Jump - Sam McNeel - 2013 - McNeel was good at the hurdles but was even better at the long jump. Her credentials include placing second in the event at both the conference and region meets in 2012, followed by placing fifth at state the same year. Her senior year she finished third at the conference meet and second at the region meet before capping her career with a sixth-place finish at the state meet. She holds the school record in the event at 17-5 1/2.

 

Triple Jump - Melissa Flores - 2010 - Flores did most of her damage in the last decade (and was on last decade’s volleyball team, as I recall) but makes her way onto this decade’s team by virtue of her work her senior year, when she was the region champion in this event.

 

High Jump - Moe Mack - 2013 - Mack won the conference and region meet in the high jump in 2013 before finishing eighth at state in the event that same year. In 2012 she was second in the region and third at the conference meet. In 2011 she finished second in the event at the conference meet and third at the region meet. She is one of five girls who are tied for the school record in the event at 5-2.