BY HEAD TRACK & FIELD COACH BECKY KRUEGER
On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, the Spartans headed to Sioux Falls to prepare for the State Track & Field Meet to be held at the Howard Wood Stadium.
In the second year of the threeday state meet, we had kids qualify for events all three days. On Thursday, Avery Orth was throwing shot put. She made finals and then threw 37’ 3.25” to land her on the podium in 4th place. At the same time as Avery, Brock Krueger was triple jumping. Although the laser was said to be recalibrated after questions were raised in the first flight, the laser failed again in the second flight. Brock was the last jumper in the second flight and after his third jump, I asked for a real tape measure reading before the pit was raked. What was said to be a 35’ 3.25” jump, was 38’ per the tape measure. A coaches meeting was held with officials, and it was determined the laser failed and all three flights of the boys would jump again at 4 p.m. His best jump was 38’ 4” and finished 12th of the 24 competitors.
On the track we had both the girls and boys compete in the 2-mile relay. The girls team of Alyssa Grohs, Ashlyn Weber, Abby Kolousek, and Logan Mohling ran 10:49.79. The girls finished 19th of the 24 teams. The boys’ team of Karter Mebius, Jack Neely, Ryder Michalek, and Sam Poncelow ran 8:39.44 to collect the 7th place medal. The boys sprint medley line up was changed due to triple jump. The team consisted of Holden Havlik, Ryder Michalek, Sam Poncelow, and Karter Mebius ran 3:56.67 and finished 19th overall.
On Friday, we had Logan Mohling and Karter Mebius running the 400m dash. Logan ran 1:04.33 and was 19th overall. Karter ran 55.58 and was 23rd overall. Right after the 400 was Jack Neely in the 300m hurdles. Jack had a great race going and then his trail leg came down and caught the last hurdle. Jack was able to get up and hobble to cross the finish line. His time was 46.84. The boys’ mile relay ran prelims on Friday night. The team of Karter Mebius, Ryder Michalek, Brock Krueger, and Sam Poncelow ran 3:38.31 in one of the tightly contested races. They finished just out of qualifying by 1.11 seconds, with their time as 8th place was 3:37.20. The boys were 11th of the 24 teams.
On Saturday, Ryder and Brock competed in the high jump. Ryder had three attempts at 6’0” and didn’t make the height. Ryder had cleared all the heights up to that point on the first attempt, which secured him 6th place on the awards stand. Brock attempted 5’10” and was unsuccessful. He ended in a tie for 16th place.
Both the girls’ and boys’ teams ended the meet with medals and team points. We are proud of all their hard work and success in a season where Mother Nature was a tough competitor. I want to give a senior shout-out to Jack Neely who has been with the program all four years of high school. Jack has really improved this year and ended his career at the state meet competing in two events. I also want to give a shout out to the senior girls, Sarah Poncelow, Kate Havlik, and Kirstie Munsen who came out to give track and field a try this year and all had great contributions to the team. We hope to continue to build our numbers and build on the success of this track season. Go Spartans!