A Track and Field Tradition
On Friday morning, some members of the Spartans Track & Field team traveled to Sioux Falls to participate in the 99th Annual Howard Wood Dakota Relays.
Alyssa Grohs, Ella Kolousek, Abby Kolousek, and Kenzie Kolousek were in heat 2, starting out of lane 7 for the girls Class B 4x800 relay. Alyssa started off by running a 2:32.8 split, handing off to Ella who ran 2:49. Abby’s split was 2:40, and Kenzie’s final leg split was 2:39. These four ladies put forth a season best of 10:42.09 and finished 10th overall.
Next on the track for the Spartans was the boys Class B 4x800 relay. The boys were in heat 2 lane 5 and Karter Mebius started the relay off with a 2:03 split and handed the baton off to Brock Krueger, who ran 2:12. Richard Cardona’s third leg was 2;14 and Sam Poncelow’s anchor leg was 2:10, where they combined for a season best of 8:38.90. They finished in 5th place in the class B relay.
The Spartans were able to have three athletes qualify in their respective field events amongst all athletes from all three classes in SD and others from surrounding states. All three field events were scheduled at 5pm. Ryder Michalek was one of 30 that qualified in boys’ high jump. Ryder’s tooth that he injured in basketball when he was involved in a nasty collision broke last weekend, causing him unbearable pain and facial swelling. After many ER, doctor, and dental visits, he had surgery to drain the infection up in his mouth. After a week of follow up appointments and medication to try and clear the infection, he was able to be upright and try competing. The starting height was 6’0”. His heart had try, but he was unable to clear starting height.
Holden Havlik, who pulled up in our medley relay on Tuesday in Burke with a level one tear in his hamstring. He was one of 40 who qualified in javelin, thrower 8 in flight 1. Holden participated but didn’t do a run-up. He just did power throws. His furthest at Howard Wood was 127’ 9”.
Avery Orth was thrower 6 in flight 3. Since she was in a later flight, it worked to watch the boys in their field events and even watch the boys’ 4x200 relay run, before her flight was up. Avery’s first throw was 36’ 1.25”. Her second was her furthest, 38’ 0.75” and her third throw was 37’ 11.25”. Avery landed 12th overall amongst the 40 girls throwing shot put.
The boys’ 4x200 relay of Nathan Gaikowski, Brock Krueger, Sam Poncelow, and Karter Mebius passed the baton around in 1:38.72 for a season best, finishing 18th of the 24 teams in the Class B field.
New to high school this year at Howard Wood was the distance medley relay. We were able to submit times based on what the girls had run in their open events and convert it to an aggregate time. The distance relay starts with the 1200 leg, handing off to next runner for a 400, third leg was an 800m run, and the last leg was a mile. Alyssa Grohs started our relay off and her split was 4:14.5. Mariah Messmer ran a 1:12 in her 400. Kenzie Kolousek ran the 800m leg in 2:39. Abby Kolousek finished the relay with a 6:12 for her mile leg. Together these girls combined a time of 14:18.03 and finished 15th. Since this event is new to high school, they are your new record holders for WSHS.
On Saturday morning the boys’ sprint medley, 200, 200, 400, 800, was on the track at 10:20am for Class B. Nathan ran the opening leg, handing it off to Brock. Sam ran the quarter lap, passing the baton to Karter for the anchor 800. The boys finished in 3:54.49.
Seventh grader, Kenzie Kolousek qualified to run the 400m dash along with the others from all three SD classes and runners from surrounding states. Six girls in the field of 64 runners were 7th or 8th graders. She was one of the seven runners from a class B school. Kenzie went out there and overcame her nerves and ran her fastest 400 yet! She finished her race in heat one clocking in at 1:02.97.
Our last event at Howard Wood was the boy’s mile relay. Karter Mebius, Richard Cardona, Brock Krueger, and Sam Poncelow did not run their fastest race, but finished in 3:46.06.
The whole track team was back together to participate in the 281-conference track meet on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Field events started at 10 a.m. and running started at 12 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.