YANKTON-- The Mitchell High School boys' track team took fourth place and the MHS girls' track team took seventh place at the Eastern South Dakota Conference track meet Saturday in Yankton.
For the girls' team, young competitors Taylor Volesky and Naomi Munsen stepped up and performed well for the Kernels, while on the boys' team it was veterans Jason and Justin Greenway, Jade Miller and Austin Loes who put up strong performances to help the team to its fourth-place finish.
"Overall I thought we placed like we expected we would," MHS track coach Geoff Gross said.
"We didn't do perfectly like we'd hoped to, but realistically I think we did exactly what we wanted to do."
For the boys, Gross said there was a lot of good, close competition that the Kernels were up against. Brandon Valley took the boys' title with 146.5 points and Watertown came in second place with 85 points. Yankton beat Mitchell out for third place by just 1.5 points, finishing the day with 79.5 points. Mitchell had 78 points.
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"Places two through five were very close," Gross said.
"All the teams had really good days and the boys were up against some very good competitors."
Jason Greenway won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.96 seconds, the 200 with a time of 22.16 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.58 seconds. He also took second place in the long jump event with a leap of 21 feet, 11.75 inches.
"Jason was winning the long jump up until the very end," Gross said.
"Matthew Vandeberg of Brandon Valley came in and beat him on the last jump. It just goes to show if you're not completely on, things can happen. And that's what happened; Jason was beat by an equal competitor."
Jade Miller came in second place in the 300 hurdles, behind Jason Greenway, with a time of 41.05 seconds and Austin Loes came in second place in the 400 with a time of 50.09 seconds. Nick Kummer took fifth place in the 400 with a time of 51.74, which was a personal best for him.
The relay teams also had a strong day on the track. Loes, Kummer, Justin Greenway and Miller ran three relays for Mitchell. They finished in second place in the 4X200 with a time of 1 minute, 32.66 seconds, took second place in the 4X400 with a time of 3:25.88 and came in third place in the 4X100 with a time of 44.31 seconds.
For the girls' team, Munsen, an eighth grader, came in third place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.93. Her time set a school record previously held by Carla Neugebauer at 2:21.7.
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Sophomore Volesky took fourth place in the triple jump with a leap of 34 feet, 5.00 inches.
Gross said the extra points from the young athletes were very helpful on Saturday because some of the veterans on the girls' squad were not able to compete.
"Megan Farnham had an issue with her quad muscle and didn't compete in all of her events. We were hoping to score some extra points from her," Gross said.
"However, we had nice efforts from Volesky and Munsen who were two young ladies that really raised their level and competed well."
Watertown took the girls' ESD title Saturday with 150 points and Pierre came in second with 124 points. Aberdeen Central finished in third place with 112.5 points.
Eastern South Dakota Conference Track Meet
Saturday in Yankton
(Mitchell placers only)
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Girls' Results
Team Results-- 1.Watertown 150; 2. Pierre 124; 3. Aberdeen Central 112.50; 4. Brandon Valley 70; 5. Yankton 58; 6. Brookings 51.50; 7. Mitchell 19; 8. Huron 4.
200 Dash-- 16. Emily Paulson 28.32; 17. Kayla Stangland 28.53.
400 Dash-- 7. Megan Farnham 1:03.34
800 Run-- 3. Naomi Munsen 2:20.93.
1600 Run-- 19. Julie Knight 6:2.69; 20. Sarah Ramsay 6:2.74.
300 Hurdles-- 9. Ellie Rew 51.50; 12. Lexie Weier 52.98.
4X100 Relay-- 4. Mitchell 51.73.
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4X200 Relay-- 6. Mitchell 1:48.72.
4X400 Relay-- 5. Mitchell 4:12.26.
4X800 Relay-- 8. Mitchell 11:01.99
1,600 Sprint Medley-- 5. Mitchell 4:24.38.
High Jump-- 11. Tevyn Waddell 4-9.00
Long Jump-- 8. Tara Palmer 15-4.25; 12. Taylor Volesky 15-0.075; 14. Ellie Rew 41-6.00.
Triple Jump-- 4. Taylor Volesky 34-5.0; 13. Jesse Volek 31-2.00; 20. Bailey Eidahl 27-6.50.
Shot Put-- 7. Shelly Iburg 33-8.25; 18. Kaley Nolz 28-3.00.
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Discus-- 9. Shelly Iburg 97-04; 12. Kaley Nolz 95-04; 17. Ida Torbergson 84-05.
Boys' Results
Team Results-- 1. Brandon Valley 146.50; 2. Watertown 85; 3. Yankton 79.50; 4. Mitchell 78; 5. Pierre 74.50; 6. Aberdeen Central 56; 7. Brookings 50; 8. Huron 19.50.
100 Dash-- 1. Jason Greenway 10.96
200 Dash-- 1. Jason Greenway 22.16; 13. Logan Long 24.46; 16. Keenan Shannon 24.76
400 Dash-- 2. Austin Loes 50.09; 14. Kyler Frongner 55.92.
800 Run-- 14. Jon Jamison 2:17.26.
1,600 Run-- 20. Alex Thill 5:35.33.
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300 Hurdles-- 1. Jason Greenway 40.58; 2. Jade Miller 41.05; 16. Mason Wenzel 47.08.
4X100 Relay-- 3. Mitchell 44.31.
4X200 Relay-- 2. Mitchell 3:25.88
4X800 Relay-- 7. Mitchell 9:31.00.
Pole Vault-- 8. Mason Carpenter 11-3.00.
Long Jump-- 2. Jason Greenway 21-11.75; 16. Ben Prill 17-7.00; 16. Reed Overweg 17-7.00.
Triple Jump-- 11. Ben Prill 36-10.00
Shot Put-- 19. Taylor Herrick 37-0.00.
Discus Throw-- 16. Dylanger Pierson 114-06.
