BRITTON – Some competed against themselves, while others used stellar competition to their advantage during the Orville Pfitzer Relays track and field meet on Tuesday afternoon.
Britton-Hecla’s Abigail Lee won both the long jump and triple jump, in addition to running on the winning sprint medley relay squad.
The senior noted that there is a different feeling competing with a group of teammates compared to individual events.
“When you’re on a team, you want to do good for your team, not just yourself, so you want to push yourself as hard as you can, because your teammates are doing that for you as well,” Lee said. “Individual, I think it’s really important to be in competition with yourself. Don’t worry about ooh, winning the meet or being the best there, but getting better than yourself. That’s what I focus on. I’m like this is what I jumped last meet, I’d like to at least touch that mark or a little bit more. I just really focus on that.”
Lee is just happy to be competing at all after an injury wiped out her entire junior campaign. She is ready to get back to state to cap off her final prep season.
“Definitely qualify for state,” Lee said of her goals this spring. “I’m seeming to be on track for all of that. I’d like to place again. I’ve been on the podium since freshman year.”
Except for last season when Lee was forced to be a spectator.
“Very tough. It was very disappointing,” Lee said. “It was hard watching state.”
Meanwhile, Groton’s Jayden Schwan tried to use his main competitor to lower his times in the distance races.
The senior saw something on Tik-Tok that he has taken to heart: “If you want to be a faster runner, you gotta run with faster people.”
Schwan said solid competition helps to produce faster times.
“Yeah, you can run a PR all by yourself,” Schwan said, “but it’s a lot harder than when you’ve got someone on your tail, I’ll tell you that.”
For Schwan, that meant a matchup with fellow distance runner Ryder Graff of Sisseton.
“Ryder Graff, heckuva runner. I talk to him all the time, so we were texting before this, it’s like OK we’re going to match our events so we have mile, two-mile today,” Schwan said. “We have some school records on our mind.”
Schwan won both events with Graff in second.
Prior to the race, Schwan gathered the field together and led them in a pre-race prayer. It is a practice he started last fall in cross country.
“One of things that I learned from doing all these prayers, I was reading in the book of Matthew, it says in Matthew 18:20 where two or three or more gather in my name, I will be with you,” Schwan said. “So, I figured instead of having all these separate prayers, why don’t we bring it all together and have some fun with it. It’s a really cool experience. … Prayer is kind of my way to dial in.”
Wilmot’s Ethan Schwenn, who finished runner-up in the 400-meter dash, lowered his time thanks to a stellar field that included Groton’s Keegen Tracy who won the race, Webster’s Henry Witt who beat Schwenn earlier this spring, Ben Suther who led Witt late in a 400 this season, and Gunner Thielges of LaMoure-Litchfield-Marion who won the 100, 200 and 110-meter high hurdles on the day.
“It was hard. I knew I had some competition,” Schwenn said. “When I got to the 200 mark, I was at 23 (seconds) so I knew my first 200 was pretty good. I just had to kick it in the last 200.”
Schwenn, the defending State B champion in the event, lowered his time by three seconds.
“I started out the season at 54, so going down to 51 is good,” Schwenn said, “but I’m hoping to end the season with a 49 at least.”
Schwenn also finished second the 800-meter run, an event that he wants to make major strides in during his final season.
“This year I want to try to get under two minutes for the 800 and try to do good in state there, too,” Schwenn said. “So, I’m going to have to start working harder and pushing harder.”
Langford Area’s Paytyn Marlow also had a big day, despite running back and forth to various events. She started off in the long jump, then competed in the 100-meter dash, went back to the long jump, then ran on a pair of relays.
“It’s pretty tiring to do the long jump before my hundred, and I had to go back to the long jump before my 4X2,” Marlow said. “I just pushed through it for my teammates. It’s pretty exhausting, I’d say.”
Marlow won the 100-meter dash and ran a leg on the winning 400-meter relay. She also finished second in the long jump and ran on the third place 800-meter relay squad.
“We broke the school record last year for the 4X1,” Marlow said, “and we’re trying to break it again with a better time.”
While handoffs are crucial in relay races, Marlow and her teammates have to make the best of their situation.
“We actually don’t really have a track in Langford,” Marlow said, “so we barely work on our handoffs.”
Aberdeen athletes also made their presence felt during the meet.
Dylan Hofer of Aberdeen Christian won the long jump and triple jump, while teammate Luke Kaiser won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and ran on the winning 400-meter relay team.
“Luke had a breakthrough in the hurdles. His form cleaned up a good bit, so that he cut about half a second in the 110s,” said Christian coach Sam Bjorkman. “That’s a big half second, because it takes him from being someone you expect to qualify to being a top eight contender.”
The Knights were led in the girls’ division by Hope Ellyson who was second in the 200, and the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay teams who both finished runner-up.
“The girls had a good meet, putting up season bests in their sprint relays,” Bjorkman said.
Roncalli received first-place finishes from Austin Fisher in the high jump, Kadince Glynn in the 200, Addison Cassady in the 1,600, and Rylee Voeller in the discus.
“On the bus ride home, the coaches were visiting about how we’re seeing steady improvement and consistency,” said Roncalli co-coach Mark Stone. “The next few weeks will be important to continue quality workouts and our meet schedule is full. There’s work to be done, but we ask for their best effort and then trust good will come from that.”
Other multiple event winners included Webster’s Matthew Mount in the shot put, discus, and javelin.
To see complete meet results, click on the following link:
