Wildcats use two meets to break records

More records fell for the Custer High School track team as the Wildcats hosted their only home meet of the season last Thursday followed by some members of the team traveling to the Pierre American Legion Relays Friday. The Pierre meet features a variety of Class AA schools from around South Dakota, as well as large high schools in North Dakota, such as those from Bismarck.
“That competition, you want to seek that out,” head coach Karen Karim said. “That competition isn’t there in Class A. It was good for us to have that.”
In Pierre senior thrower Kellyn Kortemeyer was again a double-champion in the throws, improving her personal and school record on the way to winning the discus with a throw of 146-8. Kortemeyer also won the shot put with a top throw of 44-4 1/2.
Josey Wahlstrom brought home four medals of her own in Pierre, placing second in the 200 at 27.06, while placing fourth in the 400 at 1:01.13 and fourth in the pole vault with a top height of 9-3. Also winning multiple medals was Jojo Larsen, who was fourth in the 400 at a time of 1:02.85 and seventh in the 100 in a personal-best time of 12.89.
Ramsey Karim placed second in the 3200 in a school-record time of 11:26.98, while Brit Wheeler picked up another fourth-place finish for the Wildcat girls in Pierre by running the 800 in 2:3049, while Eva Studt was sixth in the same event with a time of 2:33.30. The final three medals for the girls at the meet came from Ciana Stiefel, who was fifth in the pole vault at 9-3, Alice Sedlacek, who finished seventh in the discus with a toss of 111-3, and Kadense Dooley, who was fifth in the 3200 at 11:26.98.
On the boys side, sprinter Blake Boyster had a nice day, finishing second in the 400 at a time of 50.10 while finishing third in the 200 at 22.53. Boyster’s loss in the 400 came to a Brandon Valley runner who ran an all-time state record of 47.46.
Gage Grohs brought home the team’s final individual medal, placing sixth in the 800 at a time of 2:05.96.
One relay team placed for the Wildcat boys at the meet, as Grohs joined Drew Lehman, Alex Van Horn and Miles Ellman to run the 3200 relay in a time of 8:30.88, which was good for fifth place.
The Wildcats had a bonanza of placewinners at their home meet, including Kortemeyer again winning both throwing events, hitting the 146-6 mark in the discus while throwing the shot put 46-6.
Stiefel finished first place in the pole vault with the same top height as in Pierre, 9-3, while Karim won the 400 at a time of 1:02.23. Dooley finished first in the 1600 at a time of 5:29.38, while the 400 relay team of Larsen, Wahlstrom, Rachel Miklos and Kylee Ellerton finished in first at 52.75. Also placing first was the medley relay team of Ellerton, Maya Tennyson, Wheeler and Miklos, which posted a 22-second victory at a time of 4:35.90. Finally, the 800 relay team of Larsen, Dooley, Karim and Wahlstrom won by 18 seconds, posting a time of 4:09.88,
Second place finishes included Studt in the 1600 at 5:42.14, Sedlacek in the discus at 114-0 and Wahlstrom in the pole vault with a top height of 8-9. Torri Virtue finished second in the shot put with a best throw of 36-6 1/2, while Sedlacek made it a top-three sweep for Custer in the same event with a best throw of 33-1. The Wildcats got two more third-place finishes in the throws from Emily Borkowski, who was third in the discus with a best toss of 102-10, and Brook Bennett, who was third in the javelin with a best throw of 86-9.
Taylor Bland placed fourth in the javelin at 85-7, and Custer took the next three places in that event as well as Kylee Pulscher was fifth (71-4), Avari Dorrance was sixth (68-8) and Borkowski was seventh (65-10).
Another fourth place finish for the Wildcat girls came from the 1600 relay team of Hailee Graf, Ava Miller, Serenity Meyer and Sierra Swanson, who combined to run a time of 4:35.90. Ellerton was fifth in the 200 at 29.35, while the 800 relay team of Adela Markova, Ava Jaure, Addie Sander and Jayden Yates was sixth at 2:05.62.
The Wildcats picked up a pair of seventh-place finishes from Swanson in the 800 at 2:50.13 and Bailey Cass in the triple jump with a best leap of 30-0 1/4. The final placing came from Marakova, who finished eighth in the 300 hurdles at 56.80.
The Wildcat boys had a strong day in the relays, as the 400 team of Mikael Grace, Hadyn Yackley, Gage Tennyson and Blake Boyster won gold at a time of 44.36, as did the 1600 team of Grace, Boyster, Sam Gaulke and Miles Ellman in 3:38.34.
Wildcat boys won two individual gold medals, as Gage Grohs won the 1600 in a time of 4:45.04, while Dossen Elmore won the javelin with a best throw of 134-4. The team had two second-place finishes, one from Robbie Emery, who had a top height of 12-0 in the pole vault, and the other from Preston Drew, who ran the 1600 at 4:57.17.
Drew Lehman picked up a third-place finish in the long jump with a best leap of 18-7, while Matt Merrill was third in the shot put with a best throw of 41-5. Elmore was third in the discus at 138-10.
Fourth-place finishes for the boys included Joel Tramp in the pole vault (10-3), Colton Coppola in the shot put (40-9 1/2), Justin Doyle in the discus (129-4), Gaulke in the 400 (54.30) and the 3200 relay team of Kai Rusch, Ethan O’Connor, Jackson Wiles and Tyler Cooper at 9:48.79.
Mical Grace picked up a fifth-place finish in the 110 hurdles at 19.84, while Jackson Wiles was fifth in the 800 at 2:19.90 and Drew Lehman was fifth in the 1600 at 5:08.66.
Mical Grace also placed in the 300 hurdles, finishing sixth at 48.24, while Danny Immormino was sixth in the 200 at 24.94 and Ellman was sixth in the 400 at 54.54. A pair of relay teams finished sixth as well, including Immormino, Cade Lehman, Carter Boyster and Landon Leighton in the 400 relay at 48.93 and Isaiah Savery, Tacyen Barnes, Rusch and O’Connor in the medley relay at 4:19.96.
Reid Saufley finished seventh in the discus with a best throw of 116-10, and Van Horn was seventh in the 400 at 55.50. The final two places came from Landon Woodward, eighth in the 3200 at 12:13.92, and Elmore, eighth in the shot put at 38-10.
“We have some kids coming along, running pretty well,” Karim said. “I was pleased with some of the strides we made in getting our times down. That’s what we needed to see. We were hoping after an extra week of work we would see a drop (in times) and we did.”
The Wildcats are scheduled to compete at the Black Hills Track Classic in Sturgis this weekend, but that is tentative, as more snow may hit the Black Hills this weekend.