MILBANK – While the track and field season is young and many teams have yet to get outdoors, the Milbank Area Bulldogs have gotten off to a solid start.
The Bulldogs have the best Class A time in the 400-meter relay, the third fastest time in the 1,600-meter relay and the fourth best time in the 3,200-meter relay. Those times were recorded at a meet in Huron on one of the few nice days so far this spring.
“We kind of got lucky going to that Huron meet,” said Milbank Area coach Eric Townsend. “The weather kind of cooperated. We were able get some good stuff done for sure.”
The Bulldogs were able to clock some solid times despite having limited times to practice handoffs, a staple for sprint relay squads.
“Any of those relays, we had not worked – prior to that Huron meet – on one handoff,” Townsend said. “Basically, we went to the meet and they kind of worked on it at the meet when we there, prior to the meet starting.”
What makes matters more interesting is that one of the runners on that 400-meter relay team had never even ran a relay race prior to that meet.
“One of those guys, Garrett Mertens, had never done a handoff before and he was on that relay,” Townsend said. “That was his first time ever even on a relay.”
The Bulldogs are led by Bennett Schwenn who will be heading to the University of South Dakota to compete as decathlete and distance ace Nick Batchelor who will be running for Augustana. However, the team has so much more as proof of their performance in Huron.
Runners on that 400-meter relay were Sawyer Gauer, Mertens, Karson Weber and Schwenn.
“We’ve got a good group of kids,” Townsend said. “Our senior class is really good, but there’s some underclassmen that kind of fit in well with them that have developed over the years for sure.”
Townsend said that the Bulldogs may even be deeper than last year’s state runner-up squad. However, power house Sioux Falls Christian is still the kingpin in Class A.
“I don’t know if the boys are going to touch Sioux Falls Christian,” Townsend said. “We kind of feel like if we can get second place, that’s kind of like a state championship for us.”
Townsend said that the cold and windy spring has not led to less meets than normal, but has claimed more quality practice time than in prior years.
Squads will now be heading into a stretch of two meets a week for a while which Townsend said, “I know is not ideal, but you just don’t know which day is going to be a good day to run a distance race or a relay and try to get them a good time.”
LEADING THE WAY
There are currently two athletes who lead three individual events. Those are Rapid City Stevens distance ace Simeon Birnbaum who leads Class AA in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, and Jovi Wolf of Chester Area who leads the 100, 200 and long jump in Class B.
There are 13 athletes who lead a pair of individual events, including Aberdeen Central’s Sam Rohlfs in the Class AA long jump and triple jump.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Brandon Valley girls, Custer girls and Chester Area boys are setting the pace as team leaders so far this season. Brandon Valley leads seven events in Class AA, Custer leads seven in Class A girls, and Chester Area leads seven in Class B boys.
Other team leaders include Brandon Valley in Class AA boys (five events), Custer in Class A boys (four events), and Colman-Egan in Class B girls (six events).
