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Leaders connect on projecting majority of state champs

Athletes compete in a sprint race at Howard Wood Field during the 2023 State Track and Field Championships in Sioux Falls. Photo by John Davis taken 5/26/2023

The State Track and Field Meet concluded on Saturday afternoon with a variety of dramatic finishes.

Athletes in the meet produced school records, meet records and in some cases state records, while many others set personal records.

Last week, we attempted to project what would happen in the races for team championships in all six divisions based solely on numbers from the final track and field leaders. Those projections are listed below, followed by what exactly transpired during the meet.

CLASS AA BOYS

PROJECTED TOTAL: The depth of Brandon Valley appears to give the Lynx the edge here. Brandon Valley is projected to score 102 points. Expect Rapid City Stevens to be right in the mix with a projected total of 92. This is a very slim margin, so things could go either way.

O’Gorman appears to be the front runner of the rest of a balanced pack with a projected score of 84 points.

ACTUAL RESULT: O’Gorman came up big, including scoring 10 points by winning the final event of the meet, to finish with 100.5 points and claim the team title. Their winning time of 3:20.18 was one fastest eight times in state history.

Brandon Valley was second with 90.5 points, right in front of Rapid City Stevens with 88.

CLASS AA GIRLS

PROJECTED RESULT: A pair of squads could break the century mark here.

Sioux Falls Lincoln looks to be the slight favorite and could potentially score up to 117 points. Brandon Valley will be right in the mix with a projected total of 104. If either of those two falter, O’Gorman has the potential to step in with a projected score of 90 points.

ACTUAL RESULT: Sioux Falls Lincoln won a three-team battle for the state championship, scoring 114 points. Brandon Valley was second with 102 points, while O’Gorman ended with 91.

CLASS A BOYS

PROJECTED RESULT: If there is one division that appears to be a lock it is this one.

Sioux Falls Christian is looking at scoring more than 100 points more than any other team in the field. The Chargers are projected to score a whopping 166 points. Nobody else is even close.

Custer is the only other squad that is projected to score at least 60 points.

ACTUAL RESULT: As expected, Sioux Falls Christian dominated the competition. While the Chargers point total was a bit less than projected at 153, it was still more than 100 points more than any other team.

Custer was a distant second with 45 points, edging West Central, which finished with 42.

CLASS A GIRLS

PROJECTED RESULT: The Sioux Falls Christian girls will look to make it a clean sweep, but their margin for errors is not quite as wide as their male counterparts.

Still, the Chargers look to be in great shape to defend their state team championship with a projected score of 135 points. Mount Vernon-Plankinton is the next closest squad with a projected total of 76.

ACTUAL RESULT: Sioux Falls Christian made it a sweep of the team titles by rolling to the girls’ crown. The Chargers defended their state title by scoring 126.5 points, nearly doubling up the competition. Mount Vernon-Plankinton finished runner-up with 68.5 points.

CLASS B BOYS

PROJECTED RESULT: Of all of the six divisions, this is definitely the one to keep an eye on.

There are six teams all within about a dozen points of each other.

Viborg-Hurley might have a very slight edge, projected to score 54 points, just ahead of Ipswich with a score of 51. Canistota and Deubrook Area, with projections of 43 points, and Gregory and Wolsey-Wessington with totals of 41, should be right in the conversation. Look for this battle to come right down to the wire.

ACTUAL RESULT: As expected, this was the closest of all of the division races and came right down to the wire. Gregory and Ipswich ended up in a tie for first place with 54 points in a battle that was decided in the final meters of the 1,600-meter relay.

Deubrook Area finished in third place with a total of 41.5 points.

CLASS B GIRLS

PROJECTED RESULT: All signs point to Colman-Egan to defend its state championship in this division.

The C-Hawks are projected to score an even 100 points and no other team is even close to that total.

The next closest team appears to be Deubrook Area with a projected team total of 65 points.

ACTUAL RESULT: Colman-Egan nearly doubled up the rest of the field on the way to winning the state championship with 88 points. Chester Area and Deubrook Area ended up tying for second place with identical totals of 49 points.

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