SIOUX FALLS – Area athletes put an exclamation point on a stellar weekend of performances during the Class B State Track and Field Meet Saturday at Howard Wood Field.

Potter County won a three-team battle in a photo finish to claim the girls’ 1,600-meter relay championship. The Battlers used a strong anchor leg from Emma Schlachter to rally for the dramatic victory.

“I turned the corner and I just saw my teammates standing there, cheering me on and they encouraged me to keep going,” Schlachter said.

The squad, comprised of Dannika Kaup, Jaydn Ahlemeier, Finlee Heien and Schlachter, edged Sunshine Bible by less than half a second at the finish with Colman-Egan a close third.

“I think we peaked at a good time,” Schlachter said, “and we had Sunshine Bible to compete with, and we really love seeing them around our track meets.”

Schlachter said everybody helped to play a role in the team’s victory.

“I just give thanks to coaches and teammates, all my teammates are so amazing,” Schlachter said, “and give it all to God, because He gave it to me, so I try to give it back to Him.”

A quartet of Ipswich runners added to the Tigers’ collection of state titles on the weekend. The foursome of Kyle Hettich, Maxwell Kulesa, Casey Geditz, and Trevor Heinz ran their way to state championships in both the 400-meter relay and the 800-meter relay.

Hettich started out both races and enjoys his role as the lead-off runner.

“Starting is really fun,” Hettich said. “I love running the curve.”

The sophomore said he enjoys one relay race way more than the other.

“The 4X1 by far; way less long,” Hettich said. “You don’t need any speed endurance. It’s pretty much handoffs, which we go over basically every day in practice.”

The 800-meter relay was the final event in the Ipswich career of Trevor Heinz, who finished the weekend with three overall state titles after winning the long jump on Thursday.

“The 4X2 we were coming in second. (Friday) we screwed up the handoffs a little bit, a little windy, but we got it figured out today. We knew what we were capable of and we executed,” Heinz said. “The same with the 4X1, we were locked in and ready to go.”

Speaking of locked in, Ella Boekelheide was an example of that as the Northwestern sophomore added to her state championship resume by winning the 1,600-meter run.

Boekelheide was hooked up in a battle with Chester’s Emery Larson and sat right on her hip for the majority of the race until the final 100 meters.

“I kept waiting for her to speed up and I was focused. I made sure she was not getting away from me like last year,” Boekelheide said. “I was focused the entire time and I was ready for her to pick it up, because I knew that’s what she had to do. So when she started going, I just matched it.”

Boekelheide, who won the 800-meter run on Friday, said her most recent victory was even more satisfying.

“I like the mile,” Boekelheide said. “It feels better running it.”

While he did not win a state title, there was no denying the sense of satisfaction for Carter Luikens of Potter County after he broke a school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.29 seconds.

“I’ve been trying to get it for four years now,” Luikens said of the record of :51.44 set by Dawson Simon. “My sophomore year I ran a 51.46.”

Interestingly enough, Luikens decided to scrap his blocks after breaking the school record in the 200 on Friday without blocks.

“I got the school record doing no blocks,” Luikens said, “so I was like, well we just won’t use blocks, just have some fun and all that.”

Luikens is bound for Northern State in the fall where he will play football for the Wolves.

“I’m really looking forward to the experience up there,” Luikens said.

Aberdeen Christian’s Shawnteah La Croix placed in three events on the day, taking fifth in the 100-meter dash, and fourth in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the long jump.

“Well overall, it’s been pretty good,” La Croix said of her day. “I was pretty nervous for the long jump, because I was scared about having to hop from event to event and missing events and stuff, but it ended up being pretty good overall.”

La Croix is part of a growing number of girls’ runners for the Knights.

“That is really cool, because last year we didn’t really have to worry about who was going to be in what relays and stuff,” she said, “and this year it was a hard decision.”

Christian coach Sam Bjorkman said it’s good to see his squad growing.

“To have a team here that’s not just Shawnteah is really, really special,” Bjorkman said, “and hopefully just put another block on.”

Bjorkman said the decision to move La Croix to the long jump is recent weeks allowed the Knights more flexibility.

“You can’t do every event every day, so it was mostly that,” he said, “and we had seven girls that could race, which was amazing, and all of them got to race this weekend, all seven.”

The one drawback to the weekend was a disqualification in the 400-meter relay because of a baton exchange zone violation. However, that did not put a damper on the season the Knights had.

“Pretty much everything went right for us this year, except one 4X1, that’s how good it was,” Bjorkman said. “We’re super thankful.”

To see complete Class B results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/545392/results/all