Britton-Hecla and Langford Area both had a pair of athletes earn spots on the podium at the state track meet held in Sioux Falls Thursday through Saturday at Howard Wood Field.
Abby Lee of Britton-Hecla topped the list with a third place finish in the triple jump, and Daniel Person placed eighth in the 1600-meter run. Kalen Godel was the only county athlete to place in the top eight in two events, taking fifth in both the 800 and 1600-meter runs, and Bayleann Moen was eighth in the pole vault.
The state meet seems to bring out the best in Lee. Last year she had career bests in both the long jump and triple jump to place fourth and fifth respectively at state. This year she wasn’t able to compete for the first part of the season due to a gymnastics injury, but rebounded to qualify in the triple jump and again came up with a career effort. Her leap of 34-4.5 beat her season qualifying jump of 33-1 by over a foot and this year’s state effort beat last year’s best state jump of 33-7 and moved her from the 12th qualifying spot to third.
Person also came up with a season best, shaving over six seconds off his qualifying time with a 4:39.05 effort and moving from the 15th qualifying spot to eighth.
Godel rose to the occasion in the 1600 event as well, posting a season-best clocking of 4:36.21, over nine seconds better than his qualifying time and moving from the 11th qualifying spot to fifth. Moen pole vaulted 8-5 for her eighth place finish.
“The state meet this year went well for our athletes,” said B-H coach Stephanie Symens. “It’s always great when kids can bring home medals from a state event, and our relay teams ran well and improved on their seeding. I am very proud of all of our athletes this year. Having an actual track season is great. I’m very excit4d for what the future holds for our track team.”
Langford boss Charles Hosford was also pleased with the effort of his squad.
“I couldn’t have been more happy with how things turned out. My seniors both podiumed (Kalen for the first two times in his high school career) and the younger kids got great experience. Our relay team struggled with the second handoff so our time was not the best, but Paytyn Marlow ran her season PR with a 12.91 and was 12th in the 100 dash.”
The other individual state qualifiers for Britton-Hecla were Dashel Davidson, 21st in the 100 dash at 11.67; Marley Sundin, 23rd in the 100 dash with a 13.38 effort; and Kara McLaen, 23rd in the 800 run at 6:04.31.
The boys 3200 relay foursome of Ben Suther, Jaxon Zuehlke, Will Richter, and Person placed 12th with a 9:02.82. The boys medley relay unit of Davidson, Bryce Hawkinson, Suther, and Person was 16th with a time of 3:57.10, and the 1600 relay of Suther, Hawkinson, richter, and Person was 18th with a 3:50.42 clocking.
Britton-Hecla had one girls relay qualify for state. The 3200 quartet of Daynika Zuehlke, Jeris Stark, Jayden Bender, and Ava Teveldal was 17th with a time of 10:51.56.
The other Langford Area state qualifier was the boys medley relay that finished 17th in 4:00.06. Team members were Caleb Mertz, Johnny Behning, Kalen Godel, and Skyler Godel.
