Area track teams fighting with low numbers

AVON -- Low participation numbers are not keeping some track teams from getting athletes qualified for the state meet.

Despite not having a lot of kids come out for the team this season, coaches are still finding ways to be competitive and not be overlooked at their meets.

"In track, it's a numbers game," Colome track coach Kevin Keiser said. "But when you get to the state tournament, numbers don't mean a whole lot. It mostly comes down to individual athletes at the state tournament. Unfortunately, during the year, it's a numbers game when it comes to track meets. That's just the way it works."

Keiser said he has 12 boys and 10 girls on his varsity rosters this year. He said there are a few strong individual athletes that are doing really well.

At Tuesday's track meet in Avon, Colome sophomore Terrance Kinzer had a personal best in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 11 inches. In order to qualify for the state meet, Kinzer will have to jump 20-feet-3. Senior Skylar Forgey is another strong athlete on the team, Keiser said. She's hoping to make it to the state meet in the 800-meter run, which is her strongest event.

Last year at the state meet, Forgey took 10th place in the 800 run with a time of 2 minutes, 31.78 seconds, and came in eighth place in the 400 dash with a time of 1:02.33.

On Tuesday, Forgey ran the 800 in 2:38.42 and took second place.

Despite having athletes excel in a few individual events, Colome is not able to have a relay team.

"We're short on numbers, so we don't have any relay teams this year," Kinzer said. "It's a bummer for the kids more than anything, because they don't get to experience running in those relays. When you get to the state meet, you always want to be able to take a group of kids that want to run together, but that's the way it is."

Tripp-Delmont/Armour track coach Ron Weber agreed, saying there are some strong athletes on his team, but there are not a lot of numbers.

"We've got 25 kids out this year, about five seniors and five juniors on the team," Weber said. "But we just don't have the numbers."

Freshman Hannah Just has been a standout on the team this season. As an eighth-grader, Just took eighth place in the 200-meter dash at the state meet, finishing with a time of 27.67 seconds. She also took seventh place in the 400 dash with a time of 1:01.88.

"Hannah is the heart and soul of the girls' track team," Weber said. "We work everything around her."

Weber said being a cooperative team presents challenges, even though it helps with numbers.

"You have to have the co-op because if you don't, you won't have the numbers," he said. "But we have two proms to deal with, four concerts. You have two graduations that you have to worry about and then one school takes a band trip one weekend. So, for the past four Saturday's, we haven't even been able to run. You just have to take the good with the bad."

Avon track coach Brad Poppe believes a small track can compete. He has to be more strategic with lineups and the placement of athletes in events.

"Of course you always wish you had more kids," Poppe said, "but you know the kids that I have, I wouldn't trade them with anybody. They've been working hard and we just try and make do with what we have."

This season, the boys' team has been hard at work trying to get the 4X100 relay and the medley relay teams qualified for the state meet. The two teams have the same lineup consisting of Nick Poppe, Jonah Sturgeon, Brandon Kochmich and Jackson Powers. Poppe said trying to qualify multiple relay teams with only four athletes is tricky, but he feels the boys are up to the challenge.

"You can't compete with all the big schools at some of the track meets," Poppe said. "But we really feel as a small Class B school that we've held our own and we're pretty competitive. So, with the kids we have we try and find the events that we're best in and go in that direction and stay with that."

Fort Randall Track Meet

Tuesday in Avon

Boys' Results

Team -- 1. Bridgewater-Emery, 148; 2. South Central, 87; 3. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 79; 4. Avon, 7; 5. Colome, 66; 6. Dakota Christian, 65; 7. Andes Central, 15

100 Dash -- 1. Michael Buitenbos, DC, 11.75; 2. Gage Wilson, BE, 11.86; 3. Esteban Rodriguez, AC, 11.87; 4. Zach Van Zee, DC, 12.26; 5. Cole McCarty, CO, 12.33; 6. Jonah Bailey, BE, 12.84

200 Dash -- 1. Jonah Sturgeon, AV, 23.84; 2. Kyelle Herrick, BE, 24.05; 3. Chris Hofeldt, CO, 24.42; 4. Terrance Kinzer, CO, 24.46; 5. Esteban Rodriguez, AC, 24.82; 6. Michael Buitenbos, DC, 24.97

400 Dash -- 1. Drake Johnson, TDA, 54.40; 2. Michael Buitenbos, DC, 54.73; 3. Chris Cap, TDA, 56.79; 4. Colin Mantha, BE, 57.37; 5. Colton Herrick, BE, 58.09; 6. Cole McCarty, CO, 59.92

800 Run -- 1. Jacob Schweitzer, BE, 2:09.12; 2. Clayton Lau, TDA, 2:16.45; 3. Brant Blaha, AV, 2:16.74; 4. Sawyer Wollmann, BE, 2:20.10; 5. Brady London, CO, 2:21.16; 6. Tristan Gau, TDA, 2:21.86

1600 Run -- 1. Jacob Schweitzer, BE, 5:03.38; 2. Dakota Votaw, SC, 5:17.80; 3. Josh Tuttle, SC, 5:22.71; 4. Owen Madison, DC, 5:23.70; 5. Francis Grove, BE, 5:28.20; 6. Brady London, CO, 5:31.85

3200 Run -- 1. Christian Schweigert, SC, 10:36.36; 2. Tysin Vogt, SC, 11:28.70; 3. Dakota Votaw, SC11:31.71; 4. Owen Medicine, DC, 11:33.29; 5. Brant Blaha, AV, 12:14.30; 6. Marcus Ireland, SC, 12:35.12

110 Hurdles -- 1. Colman Haiar, BE, 15.13; 2. Chris Hofeldt, CO, 15.15; 3. Austin Eich, BE, 19.08; 4. Brady London, CO, 19.09

300 Hurdles -- 1. Colman Haiar, BE, 43.37; 2. Chris Hofeldt, CO, 43.65; 3. Austin Eich, BE, 48.00; 4. Zach Van Zee, DC, 48.84; 5. Tysin Vogt, SC, 50.41; 6. Stetson Erickson, DC, 53.29

4X100 Relay -- 1. Avon, 46.50; 2. Bridgewater-Emery, 46.53; 3. Colome, 47.09; 4. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 51.94; 5. South Central, 56.69

4X200 Relay -- 1. Bridgewater-Emery, 1:34.97; 2. Avon, 1:35.08; 3. Dakota Christian, 1:40.41; 4. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 1:48.11; 5. South Central, 1:56.84

4X400 Relay -- 1. Avon, 3:38.95; 2. Bridgewater-Emery, 3:42.99; 3. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 3:52.01; 4. South Central, 3:57.27

4X800 Relay -- 1. South Central, 8:59.07; 2. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 9:13.48; 3. Bridgewater-Emery, 9:19.07

Medley Relay -- 1. Avon, 3:58.59; 2. South Central, 4:03.41; 3. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 4:12.55; 4. Bridgewater-Emery, 4:13.42

Discus -- 1. Luke Van Gerpen, AV, 155-05; 2. Reece Weber, TDA, 129-02; 3. Franky Tusha, BE, 121-10; 4. Sam Hazen, SC, 116-09; 5. Daniel Van Zee, DC, 107-07; 6. Adrien Heiter, BE, 106-01

Shot Put -- 1. Zach Kriz, TDA, 41-10; 2. Reece Weber, TDA, 39-01; 3. Paul Temple, CO, 37-07.50; 4. Daniel Van Zee, DC, 37-01; 5. Jake Spoelstra, DC, 36-08; 6. Joshua Knodel, AV, 36-06

Long Jump -- 1. Terrance Kinzer, CO, 19-10; 2. Carter Dykstra, DC, 19-01.50; 3. Esteban Rodriguez, AC, 19-00.25; 4. Sean Luke, BE, 18-06; 5. Osmar Escobar, BE, 18-01; 6. Micah DeWaard, DC, 17-07.50

High Jump -- 1. Tyler Frank, SC, 6-02; 2. Sean Luke, BE, 5-01

Triple Jump -- 1. Colman Haiar, BE, 39-09; 2. Terrance Kinzer, CO, 39-05; 3. Tyler Frank, SC, 38-05.25; 4. Micah DeWaard, DC, 37-08; 5. Carter Dykstra, DC, 36-11.50; 6. Jason Drapeaux, AC, 35-08

Girls' Results

Team -- 1. South Central, 169; 2. Andes Central, 98; 3. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 62; 4. Dakota Christian, 58; 5. Bridgewater-Emery, 52; 6. Avon, 43; 7. Colome, 33

100 Dash --1. Hannah Just, TDA, 13.30; 2. Sierra Johnson, SC, 13.40; 3. Skylar Forgey, CO, 13.55; 4. Shayla VanderPol, DC, 13.87; 5. Traci Olinger, BE, 14.11; 6. Hannah Reeves, AV, 14.61

200 Dash -- 1. Allison Sebern, SC, 28.19; 2. Hannah Just, TDA, 28.20; 3. Justine Dye, BE, 30.34; 4. Cybil Chytka, AC, 31.56; 5. Morgan Ziegler, TDA, 32.40; 6. Courtney Krsnak, TDA, 33.08

400 Dash -- 1. Allison Sebern, SC, 1:01.27; 2. Hannah Just, TDA, 1:04.97; 3. Shayla VanderPol, DC, 1:06.57; 4. Skylar Forgey, CO, 1:09.75; 5. Chesney Arend, BE, 1:09.88; 6. Becca Moorhead, CO, 1:10.88

800 Run -- 1. Shailyn Schweigert, SC, 2:34.79; 2. Skylar Forgey, CO, 2:38.42; 3. Shayla VanderPol, DC, 2:42.56; 4. Laurel Zomer, DC, 2:42.68; 5. Alexis Lane, DC, 2:50.41; 6. Allyson Ledeboer, TDA, 2:52.23

1600 Run -- 1. Shailhyn Schweigert, SC, 5:43.86; 2. Skylar Forgey, CO, 5:50.38; 3. Kylen Swanson, AV, 6:44.97; 4. Shaunday Bly, CO, 7:21.08

3200 Run -- 1. Sierra Votaw, SC, 12:47.26; 2. Dena Dobesh, SC, 12:58.55; 3. Sierra Svatos, AC, 13:48.34; 4. Karissa Markel, AV, 14:53.27

110 Hurdles -- 1. Taylor Pistulka, SC, 17.71; 2. Payton Johanneson, AC, 20.02; 3. DeMera Dvorka, AC, 23.90

300 Hurdles -- 1. Justine Dye, BE, 52.39; 2. Taylor Pistulka, SC, 52.47; 3. Kadra Kayser, BE, 54.30; 4. Alexis Lane, DC, 56.86

4X100 Relay -- 1. South Central, 54.91; 2. Andes Central, 59.01; 3. Bridgewater-Emery, 59.39; 4. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 1:03.72

4X200 Relay -- 1. South Central, 1:54.42; 2. Dakota Christian, 1:57.88; 3. Bridgewater-Emery, 2:03.42; 4. Avon, 2:05.07; 5. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 2:07.98; 6. Andes Central, 2:11.93

4X400 Relay -- 1. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 4:24.73; 2. South Central, 4:25.15; 3. Avon, 4:40.66

4X800 Relay -- 1. South Central, 11:13.70; 2. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 11:36.08; 3. Avon, 11:46.76

Medley Relay -- 1. Avon, 4:43.16; 2. Tripp-Delmont/Armour, 4:51.34; 3. South Central, 5:09.57; 4. Andes Central, 5:35.33

Discus -- 1. Ashley Green, SC, 95-10; 2. Brooklyn VanderPol, DC, 90-00; 3. Whitney Hutchison, SC, 86-074; 4. Tiana Kayser, BE, 81-10; 5. Makayla Pavel, AC, 80-11; 6. Laren Bryant, AC, 68-10

Shot Put -- 1. Ashley Green, SC, 31-02; 2. Brooklyn VanderPol, DC, 27-00; 3. Whitney Hutchison, SC, 26-10; 4. Tiana Kayser, BE, 26-05; 5. Emily Mudder, AV, 26-04.50; 6. Makayla Pavel, AC, 25-07

Long Jump -- 1. Kellie Winckler, AC, 16-01; 2. Alexis Lane, DC, 15-03; 3. Brooke Deurmier, AC, 13-09; 4. Lexi Jurrens, AV, 13-09; 5. Jaicee Frank, SC, 13-05.25; 6. Joy Kirkpatrick, AC, 12-05

High Jump -- 1. Kellie Winckler, AC, 4-09; 2. Sierra Svatos, AC, 4-09; 3. Brooklyne Smart, BE, 4-03

Triple Jump -- 1. Kellie Winckler, AC, 33-09; 2. Brooke Deurmier, AC, 30-10; 3. Chloe Kenzy, SC, 29-11.50; 4. Sierra Svatos, AC, 29-09.25; 5. Becca Moorhead, CO, 28-07; 6. Jaicee Frank, SC, 25-11.25