Through the years, the annual Al Sahli Invitational track and field meet has experienced a little bit of everything. There has been rain, snow, cold, cancelations and last year a movement of days in attempt to compete in better weather.

Now, the meet that has always taken place in Aberdeen, will have a new temporary location.

This year’s Al Sahli meet will be held in Pierre, and even that was a last-minute switch from Friday to today because of the weather.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of movement going on with the spring schedule and the way the weather has been,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley.

The meet will once again feature Central, Pierre and Watertown.

Murley said the Golden Eagles had other options to compete this week, but thought this was the best choice.

“We probably could have gotten into Yankton, but it would have left Pierre and Watertown kind of high and dry, and we don’t want to do that,” Murley said. “They’ve been pretty loyal about coming to our meet.”

While today’s meet will take place in Pierre, it will still have an Al Sahli feel to it. Central is supplying a good share of the workers and Al Sahli medals will be handed out.

The meet is an example of Eastern South Dakota Conference schools working together to help each other out.

“There’s a little bit of a bond with the ESD,” Murley said. “We try to take care of each other.”

While this spring has been a struggle to find meets that are being held, it’s nothing out of the ordinary, according to Murley. He said schools have grown accustomed to being flexible in the spring.

“We’ve had to make a lot of modifications, which we always do. We’re used to it,” Murley said. “You kind of hope that next week you get back on schedule.”

Next week marks the start of the second half of the season as teams compete in the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls followed soon thereafter by conference, region and the state meet.

“We’ve got some pretty good athletes. I think we’re ready to go,” Murley said. “(The Al Sahli) is kind of a tune-up meet for Howard Wood next week for all three teams.”

Even though some squads have just now had their first outdoor meets of the season, Murley said he believes at the end of the day, the South Dakota’s premier athletes will find their way to the state meet.

“I think what is going to happen here is the best eight kids in the 100 are probably going to be in the finals of the 100 at the state meet,” Murley said.

LEADING THE WAY: Sioux Falls Christian’s Josiah Adams continues to set the pace among the individual leaders, topping four open events as well as being a part of a first-place relay squad. Adams leads Class A boys in the 110-meter high hurdles, 300-meter intermediate hurdles, 100-meter dash, and 200-meter dash. He also ran on a team with the top time in the 800-meter relay.

A pair of other athletes top three open events. Simeon Birnbaum of Rapid City Stevens leads the Class AA boys 800-meter, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs. Chester Area’s Emery Larson is the leader in those three races in Class B girls.

There are 10 other athletes who lead two open events, including Ciara Frank of Aberdeen Central in the Class AA girls high jump and long jump, and Gracelyn Leiseth of Hamlin in the Class A girls shot put and discus.

BY THE NUMBERS: Sioux Falls Christian is once again the leader of all the teams in the state. The Chargers top 10 events in Class A boys.

Other team leaders include Rapid City Stevens in Class AA boys (six events), O’Gorman in Class AA girls (five events), Sioux Falls Christian in Class A girls (five events), Deubrook Area in Class B boys (five events), and Colman-Egan in Class B girls (five events).