Hamlin's Leiseth, Roncalli's Munroe and Sioux Valley's Bloker each win two individual events

SIOUX FALLS — Ipswich shared the Class B boys' team championship and Gracelyn Leiseth of Hamlin, Isabelle Bloker of Sioux Valley and Jayden Munroe of Aberdeen Roncalli each picked up their second individual event wins on Saturday during the final day of the 2023 South Dakota State High School Track and field Championships at Howard Wood Field.

Leiseth won the Class A girls' shot put (50-8) and was named the Class A outstanding girls field events athlete for the third-straight year. Bloker won the Class A girls' 1,600-meter run (5:03.55) and Munroe the Class A boys' long jump (21-6.5). Leiseth won the shot put, Bloker the 3,200 and Munroe the triple jump on Friday.

Saturday's Results: Three-day state meet comes to a conclusion at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls

Other Watertown and Aberdeen area placers on Saturday included:

Class AA

Sioux Falls Lincoln won the girls division with 114 points. Aberdeen Central was eighth (38.5) and Watertown 16th (14.5). O'Gorman (110.5) won the boys division. Aberdeen Central was eighth with 42 and Watertown 15th with 22.

Aiden Heimann won the Class AA boys' 300 hurdles (1:39.25) on Saturday for Aberdeen Central. Heimann, Carter Dingman and Drew Salfrank also ran on the second-place 1,600 relay (3:20.53) and fourth-place 800 relay (1:29.11) for the Golden Eagles. Avery Ligon rounded out the 800 and Gabe Johnson the 1,600. Heimann also placed fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.0). Salfrank was third (49.55) and Dingman sixth (50.49) in the 400 dash.

A runner-up finish by Maddy Rohde in the girls javelin (132-10) proved to be the only points for Watertown on Saturday.

Ciara Frank finished second (5-2), Madison Hochstetter sixth (5-0) and Regan Lust eighth (5-0) in the girls' high jump for Aberdeen Central. Claire Schaunaman took eighth in the 100 (12.84) and also ran on the fourth-place 400 relay along with Abigail Witte, Gracie Rife and Lust.

Class A

Sioux Falls Christian swept the Class A divisions. Sioux Valley's girls led area teams by placing fourth with 46 points.

Adison Renkly took second in the 100 hurdles (15.46) and Landree Wilson fifth in the 100 (12.68) and fourth in the 200 (27.19) for the Cossacks on Saturday.

Halle Bauer of Great Plains Lutheran was sixth in the 1,600 (5:14.76), Sierra Wenzl of Milbank seventh in the 400 (1:02.93), Kami Wadsworth of Hamlin second in the shot put (42-7.5), Chloe Langager of Sisseton eighth in shot (37-7.75) and Sadie Johnson of Estelline-Hendricks eighth in the long jump (16-2).

Mobridge-Pollock was seventh in the 1,600 relay (4:07.74) with runners Jacy Netterville, Faith Heil, Jayda Thompson and Ryli Thompson.

Area individual place winners the boys division were Donovan Rose of Sioux Valley, fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.69) and seventh in the 100 (11.32); Olivier Fieber of Deuel fourth in 100 (11.04); Ricky Berndt of Deuel, fifth (4:25.52) and Kaleb Foltz of Tri-State sixth (4:26.45) in the 1,600; Foltz fifth in the 400 (50.64); Simon Fried of Mobridge-Pollock, second in 300 hurdles (40.95); Jon Nefzger of Estelline-Hendricks third (54-2.75) and Matthew Mount of Webster Area fifth (49-6.75) in the shot put; and Mike Smith of Tiospa Zina eighth in long jump (19-10.25).

Webster Area was third in the 800 relay (1:32.38) with Martin Dorsett, Gavin Witt, Carson Mount and Drew Reetz; Sioux Valley eighth in the 400 relay (45.1) with Rose, Jakob Guthmiller, Connor Gross and Boden Schiller; Hamlin fourth in the 1,600 (3:29.93) with Zac VanMeeteren, Rylan Thue, Gavin Prouty and Luke Fraser; Groton Area sixth in the 1,600 (3:31.83) with Keegen Tracy, Andrew Marzahn, Ryder Johnson and Cole Simon; and Milbank seventh in the 1,600 (3:34.77) with James Batchelor, Garrett Mertens, Grant Van Peursem and Bryan Meyer.

Class B

Ipswich scored 54 points and shared the Class B boys division title with Gregory. Deubrook Area was third (41.5) and Faulkton Area fifth (38). Colman-Egan won the Class B girls division with 84 and Deubrook Area tied for second with Chester Area at 49. Northwestern was fourth with 37.

Area boys division placers on Saturday were TJ Salmen of Hitchcock-Tulare second in (41.3) and Spencer Melius of Faulkton Area sixth (42.73) in the 300 hurdles; Hunter Cramer of Warner second (15.78), Salmen fourth (15.92) and Carter Geditz of Ipswich fifth (15.96) in the 110 hurdles; Nicholas Schlachter of Potter County sixth (4:42.62) and Lincoln Woodring of Northwestern eighth (4:43.39); Daniel Stoll of Faulkton Area third (23.3) and Treven Grimsrud of Deubrook Area fifth (23.61) in the 200; Grimsrud third (50.29), Roman DiMaria of Faulkton Area fourth (51.25), Carter Luikens of Potter County fifth (51.5), Johnathan Bretsch of Frederick Area sixth (52.19) and Gavin Landmark of Deubrook Area seventh (52.48) in the 400; and Carson Kirwan of Castlewood third (6-2), Tyler Hettich of Ipswich fifth (6-0) and Jake Jorenby of Deubrook Area tied for seventh (5-10) in the high jump.

Ipswich took second in the 400 (44.38), third in the 800 (1:33.1) and eighth in the 1,600 (3:38.61) relays. Kyle Hettich, Colby Sylte, T. Hettich and Heinz ran the 400 and 800 and Maxwell Kulesa, Ian Beyers, Casey Geditz and Turner Thorson the 1,600.

Deubrook Area won the 1,600 relay with a time of 3:29.47 (Landmark, Landen Johnson, Jaxon Quail and Grimsrud) and Faulkton Area the 800 in 1:31.57 (Cade Shick, DiMaria, Garrett Cramer and Stoll). Shick, DiMaria, Cramer and Stoll also took third in the 400 relay (44.38). Cramer, DiMaria, Melius and Stoll took second in the 1,600 (3:20.19).

Warner's Zachary Wood, Payton Volk, Cramer and Logan Permann took sixth in the 800 relay (1:33.85) and eighth in the 400 (47.3. Stephen Achen, Gavin Nickelson, Brayden Sumption and Bretsch took third in the 1600 relay (3:30.21).

Area girls place winners included Chloe Raw of Arlington (second in 200, 26.53 and second in 100, 12.5), Mackenzie Everson of Castlewood (sixth in the 100, 12.9 and 200, 27.36), Shawteah La Croix of Aberdeen Christian (fourth in 100, 12.76 and third in 200, 26.82), Adison Moore of Iroquois-Lake Preston (fifth in 100, 12.78; fifth in 200, 27.33 and eighth in 400, 1:02.74).

Kaelyn Ulschmid of Arlington third (5:22.87), Nora Olsen of Deubrook Area sixth (5:24.39) and Avery Miles of Hitchcock-Tulare eighth (5:26.88) in the 1,600 run; Ellie Olsen of Deubrook Area second in the 400 (59.28); Dannika Kaup of Potter County seventh in the 300 hurdles (49.46); and Ashley Haven of Northwestern second (34-5.25), Abigail Lee of Britton-Hecla fourth (33-7), Ashley Ptacek of Ipswich fifth (33-1) and Akasha Gorecki of Deubrook Area sixth (32-10.5) in the long jump.

Deubrook Area won the 1,600 relay in 4:03.57 (Brooke Koppatschek, Kadence Bowne, Kylee Johnson and E. Olsen) and took sixth in the 800 relay in 1:51.49 with Koppatschek, Delaney Pedersen, Bowne and Miranda Moravetz.

Castlewood took fifth in the 800 (1:51.01) with Cassidy Kirwan, Presley Knecht, Chloe Ribstein and Everson; Sunshine Bible Academy sixth in the 1,600 (4:12.99) with Abby and Tessa Hinman, Betra Amare and Dakota Boersma; and Arlington seventh in the 400 (53.26) with Halley Miller, Harley Johnson, Jo Steffensen and Raw.

Friday's Area Results

Watertown junior Owen Spartz repeated as the Class AA boys' pole vault champion to lead area athletes on Friday. Spartz won the event by clearing 15 feet.

Other area event winners on Friday included Munroe, Class A boys' triple jump (45-1.5); Leiseth, Class A girls' discus (169-11); Bloker, Class A girls' 3,200 (10.50.65) and Brenden Begeman of Herreid-Selby Area, Class B boys' shot put (51-9.5).

Leiseth and Bloker each set Class A meet records.

Friday's Results: Here are Friday's results for finals events only; prelims were also held for other events

Other Watertown place winners included Jaxson Fiechtner, fifth in AA boys' 800 run (1:57.16), Boaz Raderschadt, seventh in AA boys' shot put (50-11.75) and Paige McAreavey, seventh in AA girls' discus (11-10).

Taryn Nieman of Aberdeen Central placed third in the AA girls' discus (122-1).

Other area placers on Friday included:

Class A Girls

Bauer placed fifth (11:17.28) in the 3,200 and eighth (2:23.05) in the 800.

Wadsworth of Hamlin placed second behind her teammate Leiseth in the discus (137-5) and Jacy Dexter of Milbank (third, 10-0), Bayleann Moen of Webster Area (fifth, 9-6), Johnson (sixth, 9-6) and Maggie Kruger of Milbank (seventh, 9-0) in the pole vault.

Class A Boys

Reetz finished third (14-0) and Jayden Johnson of Milbank tied for sixth (13-0) in the pole vault. Berndt added a third-place finish in the 800 (1:57.61).

Class B Girls

Ella Boekelheide of Northwestern notched runner-up finishes in both the 3,200 (11:41.03) and 800 (2:19.45).

Ulschmid was third in the 3,200 (11:51.83) and E. Olsen (third, 2:19.7), Emma Schlachter of Potter County (fifth, 2:22.47), Miles (sixth, 2:23.19) and Kylee Johnson of Deubrook Area (eighth, 2:23.36) in the 800.

Knecht placed third in the long jump (16-1.5), followed by Lee (fifth, 16-1) and Johnson (eighth, 15-8.25). Hadlee Holt of Iroquois-Lake Preston took fourth in the discus (120-10).

Class B Boys

Woodring (800, 2:02.54), Heinz (long jump, 21-11.75) and Damon Wilkinson of De Smet (shot put, 51-4.75) each recorded runner-up finishes.

Schlachter took fourth in the 3,200 (10:14.9). Luikens (third, 2:02.7), Landmark (fifth, 2:03.07) and Kulesa (seventh, 2:03.67) placed in the 800.

The long jump included area placers Abe Kretchman of Aberdeen Christian (third, 20-5.25), Lane Tvedt of Castlewood (fourth, 19-10), Landon Puffer of Hitchcock-Tulare (fifth, 19-8) and Andrew Brennan of Aberdeen Christian (sixth, 19-5.5).

Dustin Wurtz of Leola added a sixth-place finish in the shot put (46-0.75).

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Watertown and Aberdeen highlights from the 2023 state track meet