WATERTOWN – It was a record setting day for a group of Golden Eagles on Saturday.
Members of the Aberdeen Central track and field squads set multiple school records and also set a new state mark during the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet. Harrisburg swept the team championships, while the Golden Eagles were third in both divisions.
Headlining the list of accomplishments was Kyson Fayant, who set a new all-time state record in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in a time of :37.81.
“He’s good,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “He’s really good.”
The boys’ 400-meter relay team set a new school record in a time of :42.85. Team members are Austin Ryan, Carter Lust, Karson Borge, and Caden Forred. That broke the previous school record of :42.97 set by the team of Dustin Kono, Jon Ford, Charlie Johnston, and Tony Schwan set in 2001.
“If you look at who had our school record, there were some pretty good dudes on that,” Murley said.
On the girls’ side, Mya Arampatzis broke her own school record on the way to winning the 100-meter hurdles in a time of :14.42. Teammate Catelyn Weig finished third in a clocking of :15.21.
“As happy as I am for Mya breaking the meet record and breaking our school record, I’m just as happy for Catelyn Weig. … She made all-conference,” said Central girls’ coach Jim Appl. “For a senior to show up and go out and get a third place. She’s running the best she’s ever ran right now.”
The 100 hurdles field was loaded with the majority of the state’s premier hurdles at the meet.
“One of those coaches said to me, ‘Do you realize 11 of the top 13 in the high hurdles are here?’ … I was like man, I didn’t realize that,” Appl said. “There was some solid competition today.”
And not only in that event. It was the same thing for the pole vault, according to Appl.
“Our conference is like the state meet. Same way in the high jump, too,” he said. “It’s literally the state meet there.”
There were highlights all over the board for Central in both divisions.
Appl was pleased with the way the team’s relays performed in every race.
“Our relays I thought were just absolutely outstanding,” Appl said. “We PR’d in all of them. We placed in all of them.”
Appl said a key member on most of those teams is Keyana Stillman.
“She leads all those relays out of the block as a sophomore and she’s been doing it as a seventh-grader, and you trust her. She puts us in first or second place every time,” Appl said. “And then after doing three events, she comes back and gets a sixth place in the open 2 (200 dash) at the end. What a warrior. I’m just so impressed with her.”
Also pointed out the efforts of Lucy Fritz, who placed in multiple open events and also ran on a relay squad.
“Lucy Fritz goes and scores two places for us. Goes 35 in the triple jump and then places in the high jump as well. They’re both at the same time and of course they’re across the field,” Appl said. “That’s just a solid effort on her part. And then she really did a nice job in the 4X4 today anchoring that sucker. We lowered our time by six seconds in the 4X4 and she anchored it. I thought she had a really solid day.”
Taryn Hermansen broke her own meet record in the shot put, despite fighting an illness. She also had a PR in the discus. Paige Ewalt led Central in the discus, finishing third on her final attempt.
Appl was pleased with his team’s performance as it heads down the home stretch of the season.
“We’re excited about this time of year,” Appl said. “I can’t be any more proud of these kids.”
In addition to running on the record-setting relay team, Lust also had a big day in the sprint races, finishing third in both the 100 and 200. The junior set a personal record of :10.78 in the 100.
“In the 200, Carter got third by a hundredth of a second over Karson,” Murley said.
Central finished third in the 800-meter and medley relays. Ryan and Borge were both members of those squads.
Tate DeVries led the Golden Eagles in the distance races, finishing third in the 3,200-meter run and fourth in the 1,600-meter.
“Tate ran a really, really good mile and the 32,” Murley said. “I had actually talked about pulling him from the mile to give him a chance to run a little better time in the two mile. He kind of fulfilled both of them.”
Central also had a solid day in the throws, where Brenner Waldrop finished second and Jack Bertsch took third in the discus.
“Our boys discus throwers had a really good day,” Murley said. “Brenner moved into second on his final throw, and Jack’s been solid all year, so those two had a really good day.”
Murley was pleased with his entire team on the day.
“Overall, I thought we competed just really, really hard and did a really good job,” he said.
Central will head to a last chance meet in Huron on Thursday for one final tune-up before the state meet the following weekend.
Murley said the Golden Eagles improved their statewide standing in a lot of events at the ESD.
“I think we’re pretty set on the boys side on what we want to have going to state,” Murley said. “Now it’s just a matter of fine tuning some stuff and making sure we stay healthy.”
It’s already been a banner season for the Golden Eagles, who have set multiple school and state records.
“We’re pretty lucky both on the boys and girls side we have some really talented kids that are into track right now,” Murley said.
To see complete meet results, click on the following link:
