YANKTON – Aberdeen Central senior Josh Martin won three individual races on his way to be being named Male Athlete of the Meet during the Eastern South Dakota Conference track and field meet on Saturday.

Martin won the 800, 1,600, and 3,200 meter runs for the Golden Eagles, who finished third as a team in the boys’ division.

Brandon Valley swept the team championships.

Fellow senior Jacob Merxbauer also had a big day taking first in the triple jump and second in the long jump, and running on the winning 1,600-meter relay squad. The team, comprised of Merxbauer, Aiden Heimann, Carter Dingman and Drew Salfrank, had a seven-second personal record in the event.

“It was a great team effort today. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids and their effort,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “We had a load of PRs and great performances.”

Murley pointed out that jumps coach Brent Norberg has now coached a male ESD triple jump champion for the last eight years in a row, featuring four different athletes. Cannon Hannigan won three titles to start the streak, followed by one title for Greg Liddel. Sam Rohlfs won a pair surrounded by the COVID year, before Mexbauer kept the streak intact on Saturday.

Other top male finishers were Heimann who was second in the 300 intermediate hurdles and third in the 110 high hurdles, Salfrank who was third in the 400, and the sprint medley relay team that was second.

“We exceeded our team goal today and competed hard,” Murley said. “We look forward to the next couple of weeks as we prepare for the state meet.”

The Central girls had a strong showing, finishing fifth in team points.

“It all starts with our seniors. Last year when they were juniors, this class only scored three points at the meet,” said Central girls’ coach Jim Appl. “This year they scored 23 points.”

Those points came from the likes of Abby Berry (who was second in the javelin), Ashlyn Beyer, Katelin Stoebner and Sadie Struble.

“We talk about leadership all the time at the beginning of the year with these seniors,” Appl said. “That just showed it right there.”

Those seniors got help from underclassmen as Ciara Frank won the long jump and tied for second in the high jump, while Taryn Hermansen finished second in the shot put. Gracie Rife was fourth in the 200 and also ran on a pair of relays that finished second.

Appl said those relays continue to show marked improvement. The 800-meter relay team went from a time of 1:52 to 1:46.98.

“We knew we didn’t have the individual speed all over the track,” Appl said, “but we know we can run good, solid fast relays.”

The Golden Eagles continue to improve from week to week, according to Appl.

“We talk about being on the upswing and that’s what we are,” he said. “We’re a team on the upswing.”

And that trend can be traced directly to Central’s seniors.

“Overall, it was just a solid day. Our seniors led us. That was great,” Appl said. “We’re improving and any time you see improvement it’s fun, and we had a lot of fun today.”

The Eagles compete at a last chance meet in Huron on Thursday.

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

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/453154/results/all