HURON – Aberdeen Central track and field squads won numerous events and turned in many other stellar performances at the Huron Invitational on Friday.

On the girls’ side, Central won seven events. Senior Madison Hochstetter led the Golden Eagles with a trio of first-place finishes, including the high jump, triple jump, and 100-meter hurdles. She earned personal bests in the triple jump and 100 hurdles. Golden Eagles girls’ coach Jim Appl noted how much her offseason work showed on Friday.

“When you put in the kind of work she put in in the offseason, that’s the results you’re going to get,” Appl said. “There’s a bunch of other girls too that really put in the work over the offseason, and she’s one that’s taken it to another level.”

Rakyrah Wallace earned a win in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles for the Golden Eagles, while Ciara Frank won the long jump and finished second in both the 100-meter hurdles and high jump.

Appl was glad to see Frank excelling after having knee surgery before the season began.

“She’s getting exactly to where she wants to be,” Appl said. “She ran a really good hurdle race, as well. She got two seconds and a first, so that’s excellent.”

Sophomore Juna Ramey took home a win in the 3,200-meter run, while also recording a personal best in the race. Appl was pleased to see Ramey shave time off her personal record.

“The best run of the day was Juna Ramey,” Appl said. “Took a (44)-second PR, so almost a minute faster than she’s ever ran, so that’s really good as well.”

Central, which won the 400-meter relay, also placed high in several other events. Appl was pleased to see how his team performed overall.

“The high jump stuck out; we had a bunch of girls placing there,” Appl said. “Our girls hurdlers, I’m very pleased with them. We had almost half our team PR today in one thing or another, so that’s excellent.”

Aberdeen Central travels to Mitchell for the Corn Palace Relays next Saturday, and Appl is excited to see his team continue to improve.

“We’re looking to build on what we started today, so that’s all we can ask,” Appl said.

While there were no champions on the boys’ side for the Golden Eagles, the team did finish with eight second-place finishes. Boys’ coach Greg Murley was pleased to see his team compete hard on Friday.

“It was a good start to the outdoor season,” Murley said. “Even though the weather was windy and cold by the end of the meet, the kids competed hard. We brought 85 boys to the event. There were about 800 athletes at this meet, so it was good to compete.”

Among those with second-place finishes was Avery Ligon in the 100-meter dash, while freshman Carter Lust finished two spots behind Ligon.

“I thought our short sprinters ran well, led by senior Avery Ligon, who got second, followed by freshman Carter Lust in the 100,” Murley said.

David VanVeen finished second in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter distance races, while Tyler Bain captured second place in the high jump.

“David VanVeen ran two quality distance races,” Murley said. “Tyler Bain had a good day in high jump getting second.”

Brendan Phillips finished in third place behind Bain in the high jump, while Colby Dauwen took second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, ahead of teammate Kyson Fayant. The Golden Eagles also finished second in both the 400-meter and 3,200-meter relays.

Milbank won five events, including both the boys’ and girls’ sprint medley relays. Jacy Dexter won the girls’ pole vault title, while Samuel Rick (triple jump) and Emmett Hanson (300-meter hurdles) each won events as well. Hanson also finished second in the 110-meter hurdles, while Jayden Johnson earned a second-place finish in the pole vault and Payton Brown took second in the 800-meter run.

Northwestern sophomore Ella Boekelheide won the girls’ 800-meter run and and also the 1,600-meter run, beating out Milbank’s Ashlynn Batchelor. Miller senior Alex Schumacher won the boys’ 800-meter run.

For complete results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/543170/results/all