YANKTON – Aberdeen Central collected 10 first-place finishes at the Yankton Quadrangular track and field meet on Tuesday.

On the girls’ side, Ciara Frank placed first in the high jump with a leap of 5-feet, 4-inches, while also placing first in the long jump with a leap of 17-feet, 6-inches.

Frank was pleased with her performances, which were personal bests for her.

“It went really well,” Frank said. “I PR’d in the long jump and tied my PR for high jump.”

Central girls’ coach Jim Appl was also proud of Frank’s performances.

“Hats off to that girl,” Appl said. “She’s very talented, and she’s got good coaches that are helping her prepare for this moment.”

Frank also placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, something Appl said was a first for her.

“She’s never hurdled before in her entire life,” Appl said. “She asked if she could try that, too.”

Taryn Hermansen finished first in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 10 inches. Hermansen said she enjoyed being able to be at an outdoor meet.

“It was really fun just to go out and compete and have fun with all my teammates and cheer them on,” Hermansen said.

Teammates Grace Kuch and Taryn Neiman finished second and third in the shot put, respectively.

Central’s Kiana Joerger also took home a first-place finish, capturing the pole vault event with a height of 9-feet, 6-inches.

On the boys’ side, Aiden Heimann won the 110-meter high hurdles and placed second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

Heimann said he was not worried about where he finished, and instead wanting to record a well-earned time.

“Coming in right away, 110 hurdles, I wasn’t worried about winning. Right now, I was just getting a time,” Heimann said. “This is the first outdoor meet that Central has been to, and so I was just focused on getting an outdoor time for the 110’s.”

Central boys’ coach Greg Murley was impressed with Heimann’s performances, which included running the 110-meter hurdles twice due to a technical error.

“He ran five races this early in the year, (and) it’s tough,” Murley said. “We need to make sure we take care of those guys, too.”

Heimann also helped the Golden Eagles to first place finishes in the 800-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay.

David VanVeen captured a victory in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:03.61.

VanVeen noted how tough of a race it was for him.

“I don’t think I did amazing, but being by myself it was definitely hard,” VanVeen said. “I knew a lot of people did drop out of that race, but it was pretty tough doing it by myself.”

In other boy’s events, Tyler Bain won the high jump, while the Golden Eagles also captured a win in the 1,600-meter sprint medley.

One key factor during the meet was the weather, which reached the upper 80’s with a blustery wind, providing a different experience than what the Central athletes have been used to this season.

“It took kind of a toll on us,” Frank said. “We’re not used to it, but it felt nice.”

Heimann also saw a big difference between the weather in Aberdeen compared to Yankton.

“It felt so good to be out in the warmth,” Heimann said. “It got pretty hot, you know, going from 40 to 80 in three hours is pretty crazy, but it was so good to be out here in the warm weather.”

Despite the above-average weather, the Golden Eagles were thankful for the chance to compete in an outdoor meet.

“We are just thrilled to death that Yankton afforded us this opportunity to come down here,” Appl said. “I can’t thank Yankton enough for allowing us the opportunity to come and compete.”

Overall, Murley was satisfied with the team’s efforts.

“Overall, we competed hard. We had some really good performances,” Murley said. “Getting outside and getting some marks in is awesome. We’re kind of finding out where our young kids are. Our older kids have just really been solid.”

Appl hopes this meet carries the team forward for the remainder of the season.

“Other teams have had meets. We haven’t yet, so for us this is all new,” Appl said. “We’re setting our first standard of the year, and hopefully we can build off that moving forward.”

To see complete meet results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/502150/results/all