News
This year on "Varsity Sports", we've been tracking the best high school marks in track and field from across North and South Dakota, and with the season in both states now over, we're excited to present out Platinum Medal champions for 2015! A few things to note:
- We only medaled events that are contested in both North and South Dakota, which explains why Javelin isn't included. (As an aside, Derek Murph of GFRR and Akealy Moton of West Fargo had the top jav marks in ND this year, but as South Dakota hasn't come around on throwing spears yet, they only get a shout-out in this blog, not a full Platinum award.)
- For consistency, we used fully automatic timing (FAT) to determine our champions and converted any existing hand-held marks accordingly. FAT is a more accurate - and therefore, slower - way of timing races, so if these times look off from what you've seen in the paper or on a website somewhere... Well, you'll just have to trust my math. (The Cliff's notes version of handheld to FAT conversion? Round up to the nearest tenth of a second and then add .24.)
- South Dakota was fairly dominant on the boys side, picking up 12 of the 16 Platinum awards to be had, while North Dakota had the edge for the girls, earning 10 of the 16 awards. 13 of the 16 boys' winners were seniors, and 13 of 16 were from the biggest class in their state. Not surprisingly, the girls winners featured a few more underclassmen (7 of 16) and a few more from smaller schools (6 of 16 from outside the state's biggest class).
- 16 of the 32 marks were set at the North or South Dakota State Track Meet, while 6 were established at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays and 3 more at the WDA Region Meet. (Again, not a shock that the best competition brings out the best marks.)
- Extra recognition to our three athletes who went Double-Platinum this year; Sioux Falls Lincoln's Will Lauer (1600m/3200m), Bismarck High's Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn (1600m/3200m), and Hazen's Dakota Wood (100m Hurdles/300m Hurdles). Will's running at Stanford next year, Dakota's going to NDSU...while Mattie will make the transition from Middle School to High School in Bismarck. Well done to those three and to all our winners this year!
2015 Boys Platinum Champions
100m : Mason Hericks, Watertown (11) – 10.73 seconds, Watoma Relays
200m : Damian Hall, Spearfish (12) ; Hunter Johnson, Bismarck (11) – 21.77 seconds, SD State Track Meet, Finals; WDA Region Meet
400m : Brennan Schmidt, Freeman (12) – 47.54 seconds*, SD State Track Meet, Prelims
800m : Jacob Simmons, Sturgis (12) – 1:52.38, SD State Track Meet
1600m : Will Lauer, Sioux Falls Lincoln (12) – 4:14.40, Howard Wood Dakota Relays
3200m : Will Lauer, Sioux Falls Lincoln (12) – 8:58.49, SD State Track Meet
110m Hurdles : Talon Maxon, Rapid City Central (12) – 14.15 seconds, SD State Track Meet, Finals
300m Hurdles : Andrew Steinwand, Bismarck Century (12) – 38.56 seconds, ND State Track Meet, Finals
Shot Put : Jon Tharaldsen, Bismarck (12) – 63-6.5, WDA Region Meet
Discus : Chandler Nelson, Mitchell (12) – 178-1, Howard Wood Dakota Relays
High Jump : Jaxon Hinch, Spearfish (11); Nolan Hovland, Rugby (12) – 6-8, Howard Wood Dakota Relays; ND State Meet
Long Jump : Wes Dvorak, Ethan/Parkston (12) – 23-0.5, Wagner Relays
Triple Jump : Josh Dotson, RC Central (12) – 47-03, SD State Track Meet
Pole Vault : Kaleb Ellis, Brookings (12) – 16-0, Brookings High Invite
Totals: 12/16 from South Dakota, 13/16 from the biggest class in either state
*All-Time South Dakota State Record
2015 Girls Platinum Champions
100m : Alaina Klapperich, Rapid City Central (12) – 12.04 seconds, SD State Track Meet, Finals
200m : Ashley Rone, Grand Forks Red River (12) – 24.94 seconds, ND State Track Meet, Finals
400m : Cortney Dowling, Pierre (11) – 55.87 seconds, Track O’Rama
800m : Macy Heinz, Ipswich (10) – 2:11.19, Howard Wood Dakota Relays
1600m : Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn, Bismarck (8) – 4:56.89, ND State Track Meet
3200m : Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn, Bismarck (8) – 10:33.49, Howard Wood Dakota Relays
100m Hurdles : Dakota Wood, Hazen (12) – 14.54, ND State Track Meet, Prelims
300m Hurdles : Dakota Wood, Hazen (12) – 44.10, ND State Track Meet, Finals
Shot Put : Akealy Moton, West Fargo (10) – 47-2, ND State Track Meet
Discus : Jessica Drady, Minot (12) – 141-2,WDA Region Meet
High Jump : Payton Johanneson, Andes Central/Dakota Christian (12) ; Payton Mark, Fargo Davies (12); Lexy Wittmayer, Rolette/Wolford (11) – 5-6
Long Jump : Macy Denzer, Watertown (11) – 18-5.5, Howard Wood Dakota Relays
Triple Jump : Kya Glenn, GFRR (12) – 37-6.25, ND State Track Meet
Pole Vault : Klara Lyon, Sturgis (12) – 11-9, SD State Track Meet
Totals: 10/16 from ND, 10/16 from the biggest class in either state
Congratulations again to our champions! See below for a montage of their best from this year: