Frandsen breaks hurdle record again

For the second week in a row, Hill City High School senior Andee Frandsen has broken the school record in the girls 100 hurdles. This week, she did it at Woodle Field in Sturgis at the Black Hills Track Classic  Saturday.

Last week, Frandsen ran a 15.75, her personal best time as well as the fastest in school history—until this week when she bettered her time and once again reset the school record with 15.50, moving her to the top five in the state.

Her brother, Dax Frandsen, took first in the 400 with his season best time of 50.23, while running his personal best time in the 200, placing sixth with a time of 22.64.

Just missing the school record in the 800 by three-hundredths of a second, Tate Grabow ran his fastest personal time of 1:54.86, taking home the win.

“He ran a great race. He’s the fastest time by over two and half seconds in class A,” said head coach Joe Noyes. “Tate totally set the tone.”

Barret Bush improved his own personal best time in the two-mile race, running a 10:21.33 and moving into 15th in the state, while his teammate JT Isakson finished fifth, also improving his best time to 10:44.49 putting him in the top 17 in the state. 

“I feel pretty good about those two holding over the next 10 days and probably qualifying them for the state meet,” said Noyes.

In the 300 hurdles, Brensen Veneklasen took a third place finish, running his season best time of 41.80 while Nick Schroeder finished eighth in the long jump with a mark of 18-10.50. 

The boys 400 relay team of Caleb Sobolik, Mason Wiese, Ayden Kurtz and Schroeder ran a 44.15, which was good enough for third place.

The girls sprint medley relay team of Alaina Dean, Macie Ham, Kinsey Dillavou and Addysen Kurtz took home the gold with a time of 4:24.89.

Individually, Brooke Thayer-Burke placed eighth in the 3200 with a time of 13:25.54, while Demi Schrier threw a 95-11 throw in javelin, good enough for an eighth place finish.

In the jumping events, Lillie Ham took home the gold in the high jump with a 5-3 mark, her season best, while Dean placed seventh in the long jump (16-4 1/2) and placed first in the triple jump, her season best, with a 35-3 mark. 

There were several other Rangers who didn’t place but continued to post personal records at the meet.

“I’m really excited about where we are. We took it a little easier at this meet, just about two events per kid, to just let them continue to absorb the stimulus from Howard Wood. The goal is by doing a little less at this meet, not overly taxing yourself, because we have a quick turnaround to Thursday in Custer which is our conference meet,” said Noyes.

The Rangers head to Custer for the Black Hills Conference (BHC) meet Thursday, but with a total team roster of just under 60 athletes, Hill City is far outnumbered by other area schools. 

“It’s so hard for a school of our size to win the conference meet because Sturgis and Spearfish outnumber us. Even if we could win every individual, we still would probably lose,” said Noyes, “because they just have the numbers.”

Beyond the BHC meet, the Rangers who are still trying to qualify for state or need to try to better their results will attend the West River Last Chance Track and Field Meet next Tuesday. 

“It truly is a last chance meet where you are trying to get kids that are on the bubble into the state meet,” said Noyes. 

The South Dakota High School Athletic Association (SDHSAA) Class A State Track and Field Meet will take place May 28-30 at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls.