Ranger boys 4x800 relay team are state champions

Although some expectations were not met, the meet held a state championship win, several personal records and a few surprises. 

“We knew it was going to be tough for our boys because we had a small group of guys that had to score most of our points. That was kind of asking a lot of them, but they still had some really good things take place,” said head coach Joe Noyes. 

Brandon Escalante placed sixth in the 800 with a time of 2:01.45. 

In the 1600, Luke Rupert placed fourth at 4:22.42, Leighton Aves placed eighth at 4:25.42 and Tate Grabow placed 10th at 4:27.24. All three boys achieved personal records and improved their placement from last year. 

“Tate Grabow running 4:27 and getting 10th is insane,” said Noyes. “(That time) would have won it when I was a senior. It would have won it when my brother was a senior. (That time) would have won it four years ago. It is crazy how good Class A distance running has gotten.” 

For the 3200, Noyes said, “Luke came in ranked number one, and I know he would have liked to win it.”

However, the other runners forced Rupert to do most of the work, and Lane Krautschun from Belle Fourche edged ahead by one second. 

“He (Rupert) just got out kicked with 200 to go, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort,” said Noyes. 

Rupert placed second at 9:29.21, Aves placed fifth at 9:38.63 and Grabow placed seventh at 9:42.10. Again, all three boys received a higher placement than last year. 

“Our big surprise was Brensen Veneklasen. He came in ranked I think 12th or 13th and ended up seventh in the 300 hurdles. So we were really happy for him to have that kind of a day and perform so well.” 

Veneklasen had a personal record of 42.24. 

Two of the Ranger boys’ relay teams placed ninth in the prelims and were edged out of competing. 

Noyes said, “That’s tough ‘cause that’s just on the bubble there of getting to play. But the good thing about the boys medley and the boys 4x200 with just missing placing is we get all those boys back next year. So there’s going to be some opportunities for those boys to get some payback on those two races.” 

However, the boys 4x800 relay team swung in the opposite direction. With a winning time of 8:01.91, Rupert, Aves, Grabow and Escalante ran a gold medal time, were the fastest team in all three classes and reset the school record. 

“They had a great day,” said Noyes. 

Along with this, Noyes said, “Over the weekend, we had some awesome surprises with our young ladies.” 

In the 1600, Abby Cutler improved her ranking by almost eight places, had a five-second personal record and finished 10th at 5:16.43. 

“And that was on the third day of the meet so that’s pretty awesome to see a senior run her fastest time,” said Noyes. “We’re so proud of her for that.” 

Riley Wiese came in ranked 12th in the 100  hurdles and ended up seventh at 16.05. She even reset her own school record. 

“Another awesome surprise was we made a couple of changes with relays. We actually moved Dakota (Allmer) onto our medley,” said Noyes. “We came in as the 13th fastest time, and the girls ended up getting fourth.”

The medley relay team included Wiese, Allmer, Sara DuBois and Cutler, and they finished with a time of 4:19.68. 

Wiese, Allmer and DuBois also competed in the 4x200 relay along with Alaina Dean. The girls placed sixth at 1:48.56.

Dean placed fourth in long jump at 16-8 1/4 and fourth in triple jump at 34-10. 

“The surprise of the meet with the jumps was Dakota Allmer came in ranked 18th and jumped up 10 spots,” said Noyes. 

Allmer placed eighth in long jump with a personal record of 16-1 1/2. 

That concludes the season for the Hill City High School Ranger track and field team. 

Noyes said, “What a fun awesome year. We had 56 kids. It’s the most kids I’ve ever had. And we had 56 kids not just show up at the first practice. We had 56 kids stay out the whole year so that was just awesome. 

“We took 26 kids to state which is the most I’ve ever taken. It takes a village to make it go, but man, we’ve got great parents, great athletes and such awesome seniors. We had 10 seniors this year, and the reason why our teams did so well was because of that senior leadership. So we are extremely proud of those senior boys and girls, and they are going to really be missed. It is definitely a challenge to our underclassmen to step up and try to replace that leadership.” 

Noyes added his thanks to coach Lisa Starr who is leaving the school district. 

“We just appreciate the time that coach Starr has given to the program and our athletes,” said Noyes. 

He also wanted to thank his brother Jared Noyes and volunteer coaches Brett Eckert, Greg Schroeder and Jac Cutler. 

“Awesome coaches and awesome kids and that’s why we have the program that we have,” said Noyes. 

The Hill City Runners Club starts June 9. This is part of the cross country program training, but anyone in the community interested in joining is welcome. It meets at Ranger Field every Sunday and Thursday from 5-7 p.m. throughout the summer.