HURON – With the state meet looming on the near horizon, Aberdeen Central track and field squads took advantage of one last opportunity to shore up a few things at the Wendelgass Relays on Thursday.

“Everyone is trying to PR, lower some time,” said Central girls’ coach Jim Appl. “We had a lot of PRs from kids today, and tried to get a few more kids to the state meet, get them in a position where we can compete a little better at the state meet, move up on some relays or this or that. We were able to accomplish that for the most part, so I was quite pleased with where we went with that.”

The Golden Eagles won eight events on the day, four each in the boys’ and girls’ divisions. More than that, though, was the objective to improve on times and distances for next week.

“Obviously, we wanted to tune up our relays,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “Both our 4X2 and our 4X4 ran PRs today, so that’s nice.”

Joran Foss won the shot put and the discus, with teammate Jack Bertsch in second in the discus.

“Joran Foss had a really good day over with the shot and disc,” Murley said. “He’s been pretty consistent over there, getting some medals this year.”

Kyson Fayant won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and just missed getting the school record in the process. He clocked a time of 39.13 seconds.

“He’s getting really close to our school record,” Murley said, “39:01 is our school record, so he’s inching closer and closer to that.”

Carter Lust also won the 100-meter dash.

Murley also pointed out the performance of Carson Urlacher in the 1,600-meter run.

“Carson Urlacher PR’d today in the mile,” Murley said. “The distance in South Dakota in AA is just unreal. So, hopefully he got a second event for the state meet.”

Central also received girls’ wins from Gracie Rife in the 100-meter dash, Mya Arampatzis in the 100-meter hurdles, Espynn Kuhfeld in the 300 hurdles with Arampatzis second, and Taryn Hermansen in the shot put.

Appl pointed out the Golden Eagles got a boost from a group of eighth-graders, who will be part of the state meet.

“We were really pleased with what they were able to accomplish today,” Appl said.

Appl, who said the girls are peaking at the right time of the year, said the Golden Eagles are poised to make some noise at the state meet.

“We’re really excited for the state meet, because we really have some quality at the top,” Appl said.

He pointed out that the state meet will serve multiple purposes for the Golden Eagles.

“We can score some points,” Appl said, “and the best part is, we have some younger kids who are going and are going to get a chance to compete and experience the situation, which is only going to help us for next year.”

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

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/597221/results