Against the wind

Dogies fight against inclement weather in Wheatland Invitational

The Dogies braved the famous winds of Wheatland to compete in their second track meet of the season Thursday. The adverse weather conditions threw an added challenge at head coach Matt Conzelman’s crew, but for some, it didn’t deter their performance as several new personal records were set, and the Dogies had their first 3A State Qualifying mark reached by CJ Hardy in the high jump.

“It was windy as usual in Wheatland, but we still did some good things,” Conzelman began. “The highlight of the day was definitely CJ clearing six feet and qualifying for state. It’s especially nice given he has been dealing with some knee issues.”

Wheatland seems to be where Hardy really feels the high jump. Last season, he cleared six feet for a state qualification mark for the first time, and he repeated that leap Thursday in Wheatland to punch his ticket to the state meet again this year.

“We’ve been mediating his events in order to try to minimize the impact on his knees,” Conzelman explained. “We pulled him out of the 300 Meter Hurdles to cut down on the pounding he would take in that race, and I think it paid off.”

Although the wind was howling and changing directions unpredictably, several Dogies were able to power through the gale to set new personal bests, as well as finish in the top eight on the day.

“Everyone knows that when you land in Wheatland, the wind starts blowing. But, I guess everyone has to run in the same conditions, so really we were competing for placing for the most part,” Conzelman said. “Collin [McConkey] had a good day, finishing seventh in the 100 and sixth in the 200 Meter Dash, so that was great to see.”

Teegen Hatheway finished eighth in the 400 Meter Dash, Archer Ohnstad finished eighth in the 800, while Lane Carter came in behind Sam Cunningham in third in the two-mile.

In the Triple Jump, Eli Morrill finished in sixth place while Casey Matthews and Sam Scribner nabbed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the pole vault.

For the Lady Dogies, Adalyn Olson was eighth in the 100 Meter Dash, Aspen Bloom finished fourth in the two-mile and eighth in the 800 Meter Dash, and Delainey Dresen was seventh in the long jump.

Hardy ran a PR in the 200 Meter Dash, as did Junior Geisness and Denali Davis. Along with Matthews and Drew Conzelman, Geisness and Davis also ran personal best times in the 100 Meter Dash.

Cunningham sped around the track in the 800 and 3200 meter races, finishing seventh and second, respectively, with new PRs, while his teammate Aksel Scott ran personal best times in the 800 and the mile. Carter set a PR in the two-mile, and fellow distance runner Ohnstad finished right behind Cunningham in the 800 for a PR as well.

In the weights, Jayden Corley and Dagan Thompson each put the shot for new personal best throws, while Aiden Butler and Josiah Martinez tossed the discus for personal bests.

“Aiden was right on the edge of getting into the finals in both the shot and the disc,” Conzelman said. “But, overall our throwers did pretty well considering we had four PRs each for the boys and the girls.”

The Lady Dogies were not to be outdone when it came to performing at their best. Ashlynn Shroyer set new PRs in the 200 Meter Dash as well as the Shot Put and the Discus. McKenzie Rose jumped an inch higher than she did last week in the High Jump for a new personal best, Dresen leaped to a new PR in the Long Jump, while Kyndal Von Eye and Syd Pederson each threw for new personal best distances in Discus.

“Another highlight of the day was that Julie made the finals of the Shot Put and ended up tying for seventh place,” Conzelman said. “Though she didn’t throw a PR, she definitely competed and finished well.”

Conzelman left Wheatland feeling like his team is headed in the right direction, especially for just the second week of the season.

This week, the Dogies will be headed to Spearfish on Friday, where despite the snowfall from the weekend, is expected to be perfect weather for a track meet.