Hill City track and field wraps up at state meet

The moment they’ve all been training for.

An entire season wrapped up in one weekend at the South Dakota High School Activities Association State Track and Field Championships in Sioux Falls last weekend. 

A small team of 28 Rangers—14 girls and 14 boys—competed at the state meet.

Despite the small numbers, the girls team had a good showing with several athletes taking the podium as top placers. 

“Alaina (Dean) had a great meet,” said head coach Joe Noyes. “She scored in three events.”

Dean placed fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 35-10 3/4, an event she’s been at the top of throughout the season. She also placed sixth in the 200 with a time of 26.26.

“She was ranked sixth coming in and finished sixth. Every time she ran the 200, she broke the school record, so that’s pretty good,” said Noyes. 

Dean also anchored the eighth place 400 relay team, running with Andee Frandsen, Macie Ham and Eden Wildeman with a time of 51.58.

“They came in ranked third. We had a bad hand-off, those happen,” said Noyes. “Lane one is just so tough, they always carry each other, and you always feel kind of behind it and it’s really hard to get back up into it,” he said. “Still, I was really proud of these girls.”

Frandsen came into the meet ranking eighth in the 300 hurdles and ended with a fourth-place finish running her fastest personal time of 45.77.

“On the last day, she set the school record,” said Noyes. “Andee did it the right way. She went out on top. She came in eighth, finished fourth and ran her new best of 45.77. That was really cool.”

Frandsen wasn’t the only one to improve her standing. In the field events, Lillie Ham came in ranked fifth in the high jump and ended with a third-place finish, jumping her highest at 5-5. 

“She was really thrilled about that,” said Noyes. 

The boys side had some great success but no success comes without challenges. The team battled against Lennox for second place coming up short with 64 team points to Lennox’s 78.5.

“I was really pleased,” said Noyes. “You’re always going to have a couple things that don’t go your way,” he said. “It’s not about what went wrong, it’s about how you respond to it.”

The boys 3200 team came in ranked fifth and ended with a sixth place finish, running a time of 8:23.07.

“We ended up sixth, but we ran a faster time, so we ran our fastest time of the season, and the guys around us also ran their fastest time. That’s just track and field,” said Noyes. 

The boys sprint medley relay ran by Caleb Sobolik, Mason Wiese, Brensen Veneklasen and Tate Grabow had an impressive finish thanks to a big effort by Grabow on the last leg that took the team from eight place to a third-place finish during his carry.

The 400 relay team of Sobolik, Wiese, Ayden Kurtz and Nick Schroeder had some tough luck with the hand off between Kurtz and Schroeder that ended with a disqualification for not having the hand off completed within the exchange zone. 

“Those things happen. We weren’t the only team,” said Noyes. “That’s just track and field.”

Coming in fifth place was the 1600 team of Mason Buehler, Veneklasen, Alan Harvey and Dax Frandsen with a time of 3:31.71.

Individual placers include Schroeder, who was able to secure a third-place finish in the 100 with a time of 11.19 despite coming in ranked fifth.

“He held a kid off by a 100th of a second to get third, and that was huge for the team,” said Noyes. 

Coming in fifth in the open 400 with a time of 50.60 was Frandsen, running his season-best time.

“He had some big days and still ran well,” said Noyes.

Veneklasen placed sixth in both the 110 (16.25) and 300 hurdles (42.91) despite clipping a hurdle during the 300 race.

“He was coming to the third with three hurdles to go. He was in second, and he just clipped that hurdle with his back foot and kind of landed weird,” according to Noyes.

The highlight of the weekend was Grabow who took home three gold medals, defending his 3200 title while claiming the 800 and 1600 as well. 

“From the gun, he knew he had to set the tone. He had to kind of make sure the race was honest,” said Noyes. “He took it out hard.”

Grabow was also named the boys Class A State Track MVP.

According to Noyes, Grabow makes everyone around him better.

“You coach somebody that special, winning three events and just the best kid too. He makes all the right choices, does the right thing. He’s always checking in with his teammates. He’s always trying to see how they’re doing and hype them up. The kid is just so selfless,” said Noyes. “It’s not just that he’s a once-in-a-lifetime athlete, it’s all the things that he does. It’s just special.”

Following the meet, Noyes officially announced his resignation as track coach to take a break and focus on his family. He’s not closing the door on someday stepping back into the position or possibly filling another role later on.