Area athletes produced strong early season performances on Monday.

The 2024 high school track and field season opened in Aberdeen at the Fuller Invitational at the Barnett Center where several area schools and athletes hoped to begin with solid starts to the season.

On the girls’ side, Aberdeen Christian’s Shawnteah La Croix started off her sophomore season with a pair of wins. La Croix won the 55-meter dash with a time of :07.58, including a personal best :07.54 in the prelims. She said the run felt good, including getting out of her blocks, something she has worked on improving.

“I finally got my blocks down this time. It’s taken a while, but I got those down and that was a very big contribution to that,” La Croix said. “The blocks felt good, the run felt good, top speed felt good, so that was really good.”

Immediately after running the 55-meter dash, La Croix jumped back onto the track and ran in the 200-meter dash, winning with a time of :27.05, also a personal best. La Croix was surprised at how well she did in the event.

“I was tired after that one because I had just got done with the 55 final, but I got through that,” La Croix said. “I did a lot better than expected because usually I’m at like 29’s for the first meet, so that was really good.”

While she was “very happy” with her times in the opening meet, La Croix placed fourth in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash at the Class B State Meet last season. She said she is placing a large emphasis on her blocks this season in an effort to improve on those finishes.

“I’m definitely focusing on blocks this year because looking back at all those races, I could’ve done so much better just with my blocks in general, so that’s one of the main things,” La Croix said. “Over the summer I’ve been working on blocks, so that’s definitely been helping a lot more.”

Knights coach Sam Bjorkman said La Croix’s starts to her races have been her “Achilles heel” in the past, but noted that she has bought into improving on those starts.

“She has dug in on the starts,” Bjorkman said. “It’s just sweet to see that pay off because she took a chunk off her 55. I would attribute her PR to that work that she’s put in.”

La Croix added that it was “really refreshing” to compete at the Fuller Invitational and get the season under way.

“I’ve been waiting for a meet for a very long time,” La Croix said.

Bjorkman also was glad to see the hard offseason work pay off for his young team in the first meet on both the boys’ and girls’ sides.

“Good to see them come out and get a meet under their belts,” Bjorkman said. “Really good to see the work pay off.”

Sadie Johnson of Estelline-Hendricks won the most events at the meet, taking home a total of three victories. Johnson won the 55-meter hurdles, triple jump, and pole vault and was pleased with how she performed.

“I was doing some hurdle work today, so I ran the 55-meter hurdles, and I won that with a (:09.81),” Johnson said. “And then went onto triple jump and was warm from the hurdles, and I was about six inches away from my PR, so I was pretty happy with that.”

Johnson had hoped to hit the 10-foot mark in the pole vault, but finished with a height of 9 feet, 6 inches, still good enough for first-place. The senior has set several goals for the year, including improving her current personal best of around 10 feet in the pole vault.

“So, my goal is to get 11, 11.6, 12 feet. I want to just get up a little bit higher this year,” Johnson said. “For my jumps – triple jump and long (jump) – just making sure that I’m getting the best reps that I can each meet; 300-meter hurdles, that’s one of my main goals this year is to make the finals at state.”

Other area winners on the girls’ side included Taryn Hermansen of Aberdeen Central in the shot put, Madisyn Gellhaus of Ipswich in the 1,600-meter run, and Faith Heil of Mobridge-Pollock in the 800-meter run. Heil was also a part of the Tigers’ first-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay.

On the boys’ side, Mobridge-Pollock won four events, with Jackson Eisemann winning the 200-meter dash and Carter Hinsz claiming a win in the shot put. Senior Simon Fried took home a pair of wins for the Tigers, claiming the 400-meter dash and long jump.

Fried said it was his first-time running the 400 dash, but felt he knew what to expect as he had run in similar races before.

“I’ve never ran an open (400),” Fried said. “I just knew I had to get out fast, get out hard, just like the 300 hurdles; that’s my main event, so I knew it was going to be something like that. I got out and once I got to my top speed I just started to float, and I just brought it through for the final stretch.”

Fried says his goal this spring is to finish off his senior year with a win in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at the state meet.

“Well, I got second at state in the 300-meter hurdles last year, so I’m trying to win it this year, trying to break 40 (seconds) in that,” Fried said. “And then for the 800, I’m trying to break two minutes, and then if I run an open (400) again, I’m just going to try and get in the low fifties.”

In other boys’ events, Milbank senior Jayden Johnson won the pole vault, while Rasmus Loken of Ipswich won the 55-meter hurdles. Tigers’ sophomore Kyle Hettich won the 55-meter dash with blistering speed, finishing with a time of :06.65. Hettich said running like that begins in practice.

“Hard work in practice and then good block start, good warmup. That’s about it,” Hettich said.

Hettich said his main goal for the season is to place in the 100-meter dash at the state meet with a time in the low 11-second range. Hettich said getting the chance to participate in the Fuller Invitational helps him prepare for other meets late in the season.

“It’s a big advantage over other schools that don’t have the chance to do indoor meets,” Hettich said. “It really gets me in shape so the first track meet I can take off running.”

Ipswich tied for the Class B State Track and Field team title last season, and Hettich described what it will take to bring home another state title this season.

“Good relays, team effort,” Hettich said. “Last year we didn’t have anyone who was a state champ in anything, so it’s just really all-around.”

For complete results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/528150/results/all