More tracksters qualify for state

It was another weekend of personal records being set, and state qualifications achieved, as the Dogie and Lady Dogie track teams competed in Spearfish Friday. With 35 teams on hand ranging from 4A equivalent schools on down, head coach Matt Conzelman was pleased with his team’s performance on the day.

“What a day at the Queen City Classic track meet,” he said. “We had 12 [personal records] for the men and 13 PRs for the women, and the men’s 4x100 Meter Relay team ran a state qualifying time, so that was awesome!”

The team of Colton Vanderpool Mobley, Dane Crabtree, Casey Matthews and Collin McConkey finished sixth in a time of 45.72 seconds, which put them just under the 3A standard of 45.74 for the 4x100 Meter Relay.

“It was awesome to get our first 4x1 team qualified,” Conzelman said. “We’ll keep switching things up to see if we can get a few more options for the relay before state.”

CJ Hardy had a repeat leap of 6 feet in the High Jump, which is also the mark to hit in order to punch your ticket to the culminating event in May. Hardy nailed that height in Wheatland the week prior to last, but hitting it consistently is something Conzelman is looking for in order to get him up to the next level.

“CJ got third, so that was our only individual medal on the day,” Conzelman said. “We’re still trying to get him over the six feet mark, but doing that twice in a row is a great start.”

For the Dogies, Cole Erb and Lane Carter each established two personal records on the day. Erb did so with his 12.48 second finish in the 100 Meter Dash and his 34 foot, 1 ½” leap in the Triple Jump. Carter left his mark in the mile and two-mile races finishing in 6:05.66 and 12:45.37, respectively.

Junior Geisness picked up one personal best time in the 200 Meter Dash, Thomas Prell PR’d in the 400 Meter Dash, Teegan Hatheway ran a personal best time in the 800 Meter run, Rurick Herrberg established a new PR in the 300 Meter Hurdles, as did Adam Butler. Finally, Aidan Butler and Nate Strickland each tossed the shot put to new personal best marks.

In addition, McConkey ran a PR in the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 11.81. His finish puts him a mere .14 of a second away from qualifying for the state meet in that event.

Though he didn’t run a personal best, Colton Vanderpool Mobley improved his season times in the 100 and 200 Meter dashes where he is now just .10 of a second and .71 of a second away from qualifying in each, respectively.

“Collin and Colton keep whittling away at their times in the 100 and 200,” Conzelman said. “I think both of them have a really good chance of getting pre-qualified for state in those two races, because with them this close, it’s really just a matter of a little bit better start and a little bit better finish.”

Freshman Adalyn Olson put up four of the 13 Lady Dogie personal records on the day as she improved her previous best times in the 100 and 200 Meter Dash races as well as the 110 Meter Hurdles. She also set a PR in the 300 Meter Hurdles, given it was the first time she raced that event at a high school meet.

Her time of 13.41 seconds in the 100 Meter Dash puts her just .15 of a second away from qualifying in that event. She finished in just under 30 seconds in the 200, leaving her only three seconds away from a qualifying mark there. In the 100 Meter Hurdles, she cut two seconds off her previous best time, so is less than a second away in that event and her initial time of 53.20 seconds leaves her just a little over four seconds away in the 300 hurdles.

“It was an exciting day for Adalyn,” Conzelman said. “This was the first time she ran the 200 for us this year, and she did a really good job, and her time drop in the 100 was huge.”

Delainey Dresen claimed two of the PRs for the Lady Dogies, doing so in the 100 Meter Dash and the Triple Jump. The freshman crossed the finish line in 13.76 seconds in the 100, leaving her short just half a second from qualification. Her other PR came in the Triple Jump where she leaped 31 feet, 9 inches. Both her triple jump mark and her 14-foot, 8-inch mark in the Long Jump need less than two feet more to punch her ticket in those events.

Sydney Pederson and Kyndal Von Eye doubled up with PRs in the weights. Pederson threw 28 feet, 6 inches in Shot Put and 76 feet in Discus, while Von Eye put the shot 25 feet, 6 inches and tossed the disc 66 feet, 9 inches.

Aspen Bloom ran a personal best time in her ninth-place finish in the 3200 meter run where she finished in 12:44.95. That time puts her within 20 seconds of a state qualifying time, and she is also close in the mile run, only needing to cut 11 seconds from her 5:53.04 finish.

Kenz Rose and Julie Morris established the last two PRs on the day in Long Jump and Discus, respectively.

“All day, the kids just did really well,” Conzelman said. “I talked to the kids that this meet is probably the biggest meet we’d attend this year, other than the state meet, so it gave them a little bit of an idea what to expect in that venue.”

This week, the Dogies will be heading to a track meet in Upton on Friday. Conzelman opted to attend the Bobcats’ event rather than compete in Rapid City due to it being closer for the team. In addition, the Dogies have decided not to attend the scheduled track meet in Belle Fourche on Saturday.

Field events will start the meet in Upton on Friday at 10 a.m. with running events beginning at 11 a.m. With temperatures expected to be in the high 60s, Conzelman is looking forward to a good day for his Dogies.