SIOUX FALLS – It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as last season, but it was just as satisfying.

Aberdeen Central’s Aiden Heimann won his second straight Class AA championship in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles to help highlight the final day of competition for the Golden Eagles at Howard Wood Field on Saturday afternoon.

“I came out and I was determined to win,” Heimann said.

Unlike last year when Heimann trailed for nearly the entire race before securing a victory, the senior led from start to finish to defend his title.

“It’s just a completely different feeling for both. Last year coming in the underdog, it was an underdog story, you know the feeling you get at the end of those underdog stories. Kind of what I was feeling,” Heimann said, “Whereas here, I’m defending my title, my senior year, my last time I’m running high school track, the 300 hurdles was today, and I got the title with it.”

Heimann almost ended up a double champion, but Central’s 1,600-meter relay team came up just short, despite clocking the eighth-fastest time in state history with a school-record clocking of 3:20.53.

“I think that would have been the meet record,” said relay member senior Carter Dingman. “You can’t really hang your heads about that, the time.”

Dingman ran a stellar third leg to give the Eagles the lead, but O’Gorman, which entered the final with the top time, was not going to be denied. While Central was satisfied with the time, the Eagles really wanted the title.

“We’ll take it for sure,” Dingman said, “but winning definitely would have been nice.”

Central’s Drew Salfrank, who is another senior member on that squad along with Gabe Johnson, said the team had a special bond.

“We all hang out with each other,” Salfrank said, “so it’s just a really fun group of people to be around.”

Part of that chemistry will continue as Dingman and Salfrank will room together next year when they compete for Northern State. The two have definitely left their mark on the Central program, each owning multiple records.

“Aberdeen has a long tradition in track and field,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley. “I think Drew’s up there in three events and Carter is up there in three events.”

Salfrank and Dingman both placed in the 400-meter dash as well.

Salfrank said he enjoys running with his friends better than running by himself.

“I like the 4×4 more, just more energy, and you’re with your teammates,” Salfrank said. “The 4 is just an open event.”

The Golden Eagles also rebroke the school record in the 800-meter relay for the third time this season and second time in two days.

“We had a good meet. We were running our best,” Murley said. “I think we just keep running better and better. We’d like the season and our weather to go on for a couple more weeks. These kids have really done a lot.”

The Central girls also had a solid ending to their season. The Eagles grabbed three places in the high jump, led by Ciara Frank who finished second. Madison Hochstetter and Regan Lust also earned spots on the podium.

“It was a really good day,” said Central girls’ coach Jim Appl. “You start with the high jump, you take three places out of there. Those girls just started coming on the last couple of weeks.”

Frank, who finished third in the long jump on Thursday, said moving up a position in the high jump felt much better.

“Second place definitely felt a lot different,” Frank said, “and it was a lot nicer being higher up on the podium.”

The junior said she tries not to think about what her competition is doing, instead preferring to concentrate on her own attempts.

“I really just try and focus on what I’m doing,” Frank said, “because I can’t control anyone else and what other people do isn’t going to affect how I compete.”

Central also did well on the track where Claire Schaunaman grabbed a place in the 100-meter dash and also helped to power the 400-meter relay squad to a fourth-place showing. The senior came into the state meet outside of the leaders in the 100.

“I was looking at the times of the top eight runners and I looked at them like, alright, this is the time that I have to get to get into finals for sure,” Schaunaman said. “Then I go and run that time. I PR’d by so much. I was just so happy to even have run that.”

The 4×1 relay also lowered its time and improved on its pre-meet status, going from 10th to fourth.

“Before every relay that we ran this weekend, I told my teammates, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you succeed,” Schaunaman said.

Appl was impressed with the way the 400-meter relay squad concluded the season.

“We had a great start today from Abigail Witte, just a fabulous start,” Appl said. “She did a nice job of getting out of the blocks and put us in a position where we could succeed, and that was the key. They PR’d big-time this weekend.”

When asked what she would have said earlier in the week if told the relay squad would show such marked improvement, Schaunaman responded, “I would have said I believe it, because our relay team is so good. I have so much faith in them and we always do the impossible.”

The Class AA Girls Field MVP was Nyariek Kur of Sioux Falls Washington and the Running MVP was Mia Wentzy of Brandon Valley. The Class AA Boys Field MVP was Kael Miedema of Sioux Falls Washington and the Running MVP was Simeon Birnbaum of Rapid City Stevens.

To see complete meet results, click on the following link:

https://results.dakotatiming.com/display.html?event_id=1245