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Central to feature versatile track and field athletes

Aberdeen Central’s Kiana Joerger goes over the bar in the pole vault last season at the Aberdeen Central Field Event Meet at Brownell Complex. Photo by John Davis taken 5/16/2023

Versatility will be the name of the game this spring for Aberdeen Central.

The Golden Eagles, who open their season at an indoor meet in Brookings today, will feature multiple athletes who will compete in a plethora of events, whether it be track or field.

On the girls’ side, Central coach Jim Appl said the versatility begins with members of the senior class, noting that they will have an impact in several events throughout the season.

“We have a really solid senior class,” Appl said. “We have a lot of seniors that are just solid all throughout that cover a lot of events.”

Ciara Frank is one of those seniors who will make an impact this season. Frank ended her junior year with a runner-up finish in the high jump as well as a third-place finish in the long jump at the state meet.

“She’ll do anything from our high jump to our long jump,” Appl said, “and she’s even dabbled in hurdles and relays, too and does a nice job with those.”

Appl noted the versatility of fellow seniors Madison Hochstetter and Abigail Witte.

Hochstetter finished sixth in the high jump at the state meet, while Witte was a member of the Golden Eagles fourth-place 400-meter relay team last season.

“(Madison) is a high jumper, does a little triple jump and hurdles for us,” Appl said. “Abby Witte has always been really good in our sprints and our relays.”

Sophomore Gracie Rife and freshman Regan Lust will be younger runners to keep an eye on this season.

“(Gracie) does a nice job on her sprints and relays,” Appl said. “(Regan) does everything – long jump, high jump, and then does a lot of our relays for us.”

In the field events, Taryn Hermansen and Taryn Nieman will be a pair of throwers to keep an eye on. The Golden Eagles hope that Grace Kuch, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during volleyball, will be able to return to action at some point this spring.

“(Grace) was the ESD MVP for field events,” Appl said. “I hope we can get her back, and if we don’t get her back, our goal is to get her ready for college then, as long as we can help the girl, because she’s given so much to our team.”

Appl added that the pole vault will have depth with Kiana Joerger and Breckan Santjer leading the way for the Golden Eagles.

He noted that no matter what the event, his goals and expectations for the team are always the same each season.

“We want to improve from where we start to where we finish at the end of the year,” Appl said. “We don’t focus on much more than that and we want to have growth and improvement throughout the year.”

Appl also pointed out how thankful he and boys’ coach Greg Murley are for their coaching staffs and their ability to be able to help them year after year with coaching the team.

“We’re blessed with a great coaching staff,” Appl said. “We have such good individual coaches and we’re fortunate at Aberdeen Central where we can have one person coaching an event, or maybe they coach two events, and they’re so good at it. We’re very fortunate at Aberdeen Central that we have that luxury. It makes being a head coach really easy.”

On the boys’ side, Murley is excited about several aspects of his team this season, including an increase in the number of participants.

“Our numbers are really good in the boys’ side,” Murley said. “We’re just under 90 boys, which is a real solid team.”

Murley said there are several areas where he sees potential, whether on the track or in the field.

“Every year is different,” Murley said. “This year I think our high jumpers are pretty good, we have some great depth in the throws, (and) we have some distance runners that are coming along that are young.”

With that depth, Murley likes the chances that the Golden Eagles will be able to score in multiple areas.

“We have someone that can place in the 100, the 200,” Murley said. “We’ll find someone in the 400, we can place in the 800, so I think we’re going to place in a lot of events. We may not be like that top tier, really fast times, but we’re going to have a lot of kids that can score and help this team.”

Among those that will look to contribute for the Golden Eagles this season will be junior Brendan Phillips and sophomore Tyler Bain in the high jump, as well as senior Grant Fritz in triple jump.

“He was actually jumping pretty well last year and had a hamstring issue that we kind of chose to sit him out instead of push the issue,” Murley said of Fritz. “It was a good choice on our part.”

Aberdeen Central’s Avery Ligon, center, runs a leg of the Class AA 800-meter relay at the South Dakota State Track and Field Championships last season at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. Photo by John Davis taken 5/26/2023

Murley also mentioned David VanVeen and Avery Ligon as runners to watch.

“David VanVeen’s really had a good summer,” Murley said. “Avery Ligon has really worked hard, and he was on that 4×2 team last year. He’s kind of that lone returning sprinter that we have, and he’s a good leader.”

In the field events, Murley said major contributors will be Joran Foss and Jett Carlson.

“(Joran Foss) up in the throws looks pretty good, Murley said. “Jett Carlson comes back. He’s our record holder in the javelin throw.”

Murley is hoping that “success breeds success” and that his team can improve as the season goes on.

“Every year it’s just try to get better and better and run our best times at the ESD and state meet,” Murley said. “Really just work to make ourselves individually, and as a team, as good as we can be.”

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