IPSWICH – Spencer Melius of Faulkton, and Groton’s Keegen Tracy each won three individual events during the Ipswich Early Bird track and field meet on Friday.
Melius won the 110-meter high hurdles, the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, and the javelin, while Tracy swept the 100-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter dashes on the day.
Dustin Wurtz of Leola won the shot put and discus, while North Central’s Gabe Johnson won the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs, and teammate Timothy Rucker won the triple jump and tied for first in the high jump to help lead the Thunder to the boys’ team championship.
On the girls’ side, Kendal Uttecht of Wolsey-Wessington won the 400-meter and 800-meter runs, and also ran on the winning 800-meter relay squad. Ipswich’s Marley Guthmiller won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and tied for first in the pole vault to help power the Tigers to the girls’ team crown.
Aberdeen Roncalli’s Gabby Thomas finished second in both the long jump and the triple jump.
The Cavaliers, who competed at a meet in Mobridge on Thursday, were a bit tired on the second day of back-to-back meets.
“We knew they were going to be tired today, physically, and probably mentally, emotionally and all that. … They’ve just put forth a really good, honest, hard-working effort two days in a row,” said Roncalli coach Mark Stone.
The Cavaliers now have the rest of the weekend off.
“They gave us two days of hard work and they deserve two days off,” Stone said. “Don’t think about track, don’t talk about track, don’t write about track for two days, and we’ll see you again on Monday.”
Stone said his athletes did a lot of little things during the meet that turn out to be big things.
“We’re taking care of reach other. When there’s people competing, we have team members that are there and are present. We have people that do things like offer to lead prayer, that offer to setup and break down camp,” Stone said. “All the things that are sort of side significant, things that make it a joy for a coach. When your kids take care of each other, it’s just a lot of fun to be with that, to be a part of that as a coach.”
And while Stone said there were signs when the fatigue was evident, the Cavaliers did not make a big deal out of it during the meet.
“You could tell there were times when the legs were tired or arms were tired. You could see that. … We are so proud of the kids’ effort,” Stone said. “They were tired today. They had every reason to express how tired they were, but we didn’t dwell on that.”
Roncalli is off until Tuesday when the Cavaliers compete in the Pork Chop Relays at Clear Lake.
To see complete results from the Ipswich meet, click on the following link:
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