SIOUX FALLS – A pair of Aberdeen Central shot put throwers came up with memorable performances at the Class AA State Track and Field Meet Friday at Howard Wood Field.

Taryn Hermansen found herself in fifth place and in dire need of a huge final throw and she came up big to finish second place in the event.

“My first couple of throws were not very good,” Hermansen said. “I knew on my last one I had to do something, and I just kind of got focused, locked in, and just let it rip, I guess.”

The sophomore came into the event fourth and eventually moved down a spot before unleashing her big throw with the pressure on.

“Coming into the meet I was fourth, and then going into finals I was fourth. Someone threw another good throw and put me down to fifth, so going into my last throw knowing I had to show up, and thankfully I was able to do that,” Hermansen said. “When it let go, I knew it was a good throw and I just kind of turned around and looked where it landed, and it was just a big relief, honestly.”

Central’s Felipe Gonzalez had a career day on the way to a fifth place finish in the boys’ shot put. He ended up getting four personal records en route to placing at the state meet.

“At the start, I was looking for a 49 PR at the least,” Gonzalez said. “I couldn’t imagine throwing 51 at all.”

Gonzalez credited the Central supporters for helping him to keep throwing farther and farther.

“The atmosphere from my team, it was crazy,” Gonzalez said. “The clappers at the end really helped me out.”

The sophomore just continued to get better and better at the event.

“My PR last year was 30 feet and this year it was 39 feet at the beginning of the year,” Gonzalez said, “so I’ve come a long way.”

The Golden Eagles received a sixth-place finish from David Van Veen in the 3,200-meter run.

Van Veen, who has the second best time going into today’s 1,600-meter run, said the 3,200 is a more calculated race.

“The two mile is also about pacing. You can’t go out and in the first half and you PR or something and expect to be fine,” Van Veen said. “It’s all about pacing. Normally, judgement is like 10-15 seconds slower than the mile pace, and that’s more my judgement.”

Van Veen was part of Central’s fourth-place sprint medley relay team, which accomplished that feat coming out of the slow heat on Thursday. Van Veen said having Yankton in the field helped the Golden Eagles.

“Yankton is the best team in the medley,” Van Veen said. “When I saw them in my heat, I knew it was going to be a fast heat.”

The Golden Eagles also grabbed a place in the girls’ pole vault. Jaidyn Forsyth finished eighth with teammate Breckan Santjer ninth.

“We were going to finish eighth, ninth either way,” said Central girls’ coach Jim Appl. “It was just a matter of which one got the point.”

Appl was also pleased with Hermansen’s late-throw heroics in the shot put.

“She threw a really nice one on her last throw and put herself into second place which is good for her,” Appl said. “She earned that spot. She’s been throwing well all season long.”

Central boys’ coach Greg Murley talked about the performance of Gonzalez.

“I had heard he’s been throwing well at practice and doing some good things,” Murley said.

Murley said the thing about field events is that sometimes things just come together at the right moment.

“Once it clicks, it clicks and it certainly clicked today at the right time,” Murley said, “so that was fun for him.”

The Golden Eagles will be in multiple events when action resumes today.

To see the Class AA results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/545396/results/all