’Cats win five conference titles

Five gold medals and plenty of other colors came home with the Custer High School track team from last Friday’s Black Hills Conference meet, which was moved from Rapid City Christian to O’Harra Stadium on the campus of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. The move was made due to soggy conditions at Rapid City Christian.
Among the champions was Jojo Larsen, who won the 100 in school record-breaking fashion at a time of 12.21. She followed that up by also winning the 200 in a time of 26.29.
She was joined as a conference champion by Jayda Bennett, who won the 100 hurdles in 15.76, as well as by Emily Borkowski, who won the discus with a best toss of 117-0.
The other conference championship came on the boys side from Cade Lehman, who won the triple jump with a best leap of 45-3.
“There are kids who are trying to improve their marks. There is no real guarantee on qualifications (for state) anyway,” Karim said. “The better the marks, the more likely we’re going to get in. We had some big things we wanted to see, which we did.”
The top 24 times/distances in each event in each class qualify for next week’s Class A State Track Meet in Sioux Falls.
 Other girls placings at the conference meet included Borkowski placing second in the shot put at 35-2, and Karyn Ellerton placing second in the discus with a best toss of 117-0. Tenlee Stiefel was second in the pole vault by clearing a top height of 10-0.
Two relay teams placed second for the Wildcats, including the 1600 team of Taylor Busch, Rachel Miklos, Kelsey Stiefel and Larsen, which posted a time of 4:08.62, and the 400 team of Sienna Musumeci, Addie Sander, Kylee Ellerton and Larsen in a time of 51.21.
Third-place finishes came from Torri Virtue in the shot put with a best throw of 35-0 3/4, as well as Brook Bennett, who continued to improve her own school record in the javelin with a best throw of 102-1. The 800 relay team of Ellerton, Miklos, Musumeci and Sander was also fourth at 1:53.19.
Custer picked up fifth-place finishes from Taylor Busch in the 400 with a personal-best time of 1:00.65 and Sierra Swanson in a personal-best time of 12:40.20, as well as the 3200 relay team of Hailey Woodward, Keira Thorp, Mattea Marshall and Riley Messer in 11:22.06.
A sixth-place finish came from Virtue in the discus with a best throw of 103-3. Seventh-place finishes came from Brit Wheeler in the 1600 at 5:36.27, as well as the medley relay team of Olivia Sheffield, Kadence Spaans, Thorp and Marshall at 5:12.30.
For the boys, Drew Lehman joined his brother at the top of the state rankings in the triple jump when he leapt 42-11, a personal record that put him second in the state, just behind younger brother Cade.
Also placing second was Robbie Emery in the pole vault, who topped out at 14-0. Drew Lehman picked up another second-place finish in the 400, running a time of 52.59. The final boys second-place finish came from the 800 relay team of Danny Immormino, Mical Grace, Roland Sedlacek and Drew Lehman in a time of 1:34.03.
Third-place finishes came from the 400 relay team of Immormino, Sedlacek, Cade Lehman and Sam Gaulke in 44.50 and Carter Tennyson in the high jump with a top height of 6-1.
Sedlacek also placed fourth in the javelin with a top throw of 136-9, as did Kallin Thomas in the discus with a personal-record throw of 117-6. The final fourth-place finish came from the 3200 relay team of Dalton Marshall, Jared Cooper, Austin Drew and Tyler Cooper in a time of 9:06.56.
In fifth place was Torin Knight with a personal-record throw in the javelin with a toss of 134-11, eighth-grader Peyton Krueger in the 3200 in a personal-record time of 10:58.25, Grace in the 110 hurdles at 16.53 and the medley relay team of Bryton Syverson, Kai Rusch, Delano Weber and Cooper in 4:15.50.
Gaulke placed sixth in the 400 at 53.76, while Sean Shipp was sixth in the 1600 in a personal-record time of  4:34.43. The final sixth-place finish came from David Lewis, who cleared 11-0 in the pole vault.
Drew Lehman ran a personal-record time of 23.97 to place seventh in the 200, and Grace was seventh in the 300 hurdles at a time of 43.52. The 1600 relay team of Grace, Gaulke, Cade Lehman and Jackson Wiles also finished seventh at a time of 3:39.63.
Eighth-place finishes came from Wiles in the 800 at 2:05.57 and in the 1600 in a personal-record time of 4:45.64. Immormino was eighth in the 100 at 11.34.
“We had some kids struggle that normally do better, but some others improved their marks,” Karim said. “Cade just keeps coming through in his jumps. Danny looked good, and Mical seems to be getting back to where he was.
“We need to get everybody healthy and have some decisions to make. To be running faster this time of year, getting faster each week, is nice.”
Those who have waited to see the Wildcats compete at home will have their one and only chance to do so Thursday, when the team hosts the “Custer’s Last Chance” meet, athletes’ final opportunity to qualify for the state meet.
Karim said the Wildcats who are on the fringe of competing at state will attempt to qualify, and some hand-off work will be done for relays already qualified for state.
“There are three ways to look at this meet,” Karim said. “Some are trying to get in, some it’s their last meet and they want to do the best they can, and we have kids who are already in (state) and we don’t want to hurt them but fine tune things and get them ready for state.”
Field events start at 9 a.m. with the javelin. All the other field events and races begin around 10 a.m.