Alexis Clark not only raised the bar on Saturday, she cleared it like no other high school girl in state history.
The Aberdeen Central junior got her track and field season off to a monumental start by becoming the first prep female to clear 5-feet 11-inches in the high jump during the John Huth Invitational at the Barnett Center.
"Anyone who was here to watch Alexis Clark jump today got a treat," said Central girls' coach Jim Appl. "It was something special when the all-time South Dakota record is 5-10-1/2 and she goes 5-11. And everyone knew it, because everyone was over there watching it."
Clark said she was "impressed and amazed that I jumped that high. I wasn't expecting it at all."
While the height established a new school record by four inches, it will not be recognized by the state because it occurred indoors at a non-sanctioned meet.
Clark eventually stopped competing in the high jump, not because she failed to clear a height, but because she had to compete in other events.
"I had two events left," Clark explained. "I needed to finish pole vault. They were waiting for me."
Clark went on to win both the pole vault and the triple jump to complete a memorable day.
"I call her the Super Freak. Nothing surprises me with that girl," Appl said. "She is freaky good. She can do whatever she puts her mind to."
Appl also credited his assistant coaches for their work with Clark.
"It's a combination of her talent and the coaching we have," Appl said. "Alexis Clark is without a doubt a phenomenal athlete (to go) along with three solid coaches."
Clark's teammate Hannah Kastigar also worked her way into the Huth Invitational record book. She tied a meet mark in the 1,500-meter run in a time of 5:03.
"It felt really good," Kastigar said of her race, "nice and relaxing."
Kastigar also ran a leg on the winning 3,200-meter relay team.
When asked if she liked running indoors or outdoors better, Kastigar responded, "I like both, but I think I like outside a little better. You get the nice fresh air, too."
Among the other record-setters on the day was Shekota Myer of Ipswich, who broke the shot put mark by nearly three feet.
Central's Tanner Peltier won both the 1,500 and 3,000-meter runs.
He said while there is still plenty of room for improvement, he was pleased with his performances.
"I'm pretty satisfied. It's the beginning of the year and I have a lot of time to improve," Peltier said. "I'm happy with what I did today."
Josh Hilgemann of Central won the 200-meter dash, was second in the 55-meter hurdles and ran a solid leg on the 1,600-meter relay squad, when he took the Golden Eagles from third to first during his portion of the race.
"I just tried to stick it out until the end and then just gave it my all for the last 150 to give us the lead," Hilgemann said.
Hilgemann is best known for his work in the hurdles.
"I've only been to four practices since basketball," Hilgemann noted, "so I'm not in top form and I hit a few."
Many athletes are still trying to recover from their winter sports, so most of the squads are still a work in progress and just trying to get their members into track-and-field shape.
"We've been running a long hallway, a 154-yard hallway for about three weeks now," said Central boys' coach Greg Murley, "so it's nice to get on something that's a little bit oval."
He was pleased with what he saw during his team's season debut.
"The kids competed and they did the best we could," he said. "We have some things we need to work on. We need to get in shape a little bit more."
Aberdeen Roncalli also competed, albeit with smaller squads than usual.
"We're just grateful to have a chance to compete," said Roncalli girls' coach Mark Stone. "We're also looking forward to having a full squad and getting some meaningful workouts in. We've got a lot of improvement ahead of us, but we're going in the right direction."
Roncalli boys' coach Terry Dosch was also happy with the performances by the limited amount of his athletes that competed.
"We had just kind of a shell of a crew," Dosch noted. "I thought they did a good job."
Dosch verbalized what so many in attendance were likely thinking on Saturday when he said, "You kind of keep your fingers crossed that the weather is going to come around a little bit and you can actually maybe get on the track and do something."
Central will compete at the Barnett Center again on Thursday during the Class AA portion of the Al Sahli Invitational. The meet begins at 4 p.m.
Participating Teams: Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Roncalli, Ipswich, Pierre, Sioux Falls Lincoln, Watertown.
|BOYS' DIVISION|
55-Meter Hurdles: 1, Shay Reinke, Pierre, :08.0; 2, Josh Hilgemann, Aberdeen Central, :08.1; 3, Matthew Booth, Aberdeen Central, :09.2; 4, Matt Blaseg, Pierre, :09.3; 5, Dylan Vincent, Aberdeen Central, :09.7; 6, Marcus McGinley, Watertown, :10.2.
55-Meter Dash: 1, Shay Bratland, Watertown, :06.5 (meet record, old record, 6.6, T. Schwan, Aberdeen Central, 1999 and 2001, L. Moody, Mitchell, 2000); 2, Bo Arnold, Watertown, :06.6; 3, Dion Helgelien, Watertown. :06.8; 4, Cody Feierabend, Watertown. :06.8; 5, Greyson Phillips, Aberdeen Central, :06.9; 6, Cyler Anderson, Watertown, :06.9.
200-Meter Dash: 1, Josh Hilgemann, Aberdeen Central, :24.1; 2, Shay Reinke, Pierre, :24.4; 3, Mason Hericks, Watertown, :24.5; 4, Dion Helgelien, Watertown, :24.6; 5, Cyler Anderson, Watertown, :24.9; 6, Justus Freidel, Watertown, :25.3.
400-Meter Dash: 1, Nick Reiffenberger, Watertown, :56.8; 2, Mason Mennenga, Watertown, :57.6; 3, Jake Heinert, Aberdeen Central, :57.8; 4, Jesse Hedges, Aberdeen Central, :58.9; 5, Ben Howey, Watertown, :59.0; 6, Caleb McKinley, Pierre, :59.5.
800-Meter Run: 1, Brant Gilbertson, Watertown, 2:12.0; 2, Bennett Eisenbeisz, Pierre, 2:17.1; 3, Jack Wollman, Pierre, 2:23.8; 4, Sean Curly, Watertown, 2:27.7; 5, Elliot VanWell, Watertown, 2:32.6; 6, Austin Weiss, Pierre, 2:36.1.
1,500-Meter Run: 1, Tanner Peltier, Aberdeen Central, 5:20.5; 2, Patrick Woods, Aberdeen Central, 5:29.4; 3, Alex Tiede, Aberdeen Central, 6:06.8; 4, Gage Jewett, Aberdeen Central, 6:17.8.
3,000-Meter Run: 1, Tanner Peltier, Aberdeen Central, 10:29.1; 2, Patrick Woods, Aberdeen Central, 10:35.0; 3, Layne Diaz, Watertown, 11:10.4.
Shot Put: 1, Graham Protexter, Pierre, 47-2; 2, Lane Myer, Ipswich, 44-8; 3, Michael Koegan, Watertown, 42-7; 4, Nate Johnson, Watertown, 42-3; 5, Jordan Berndt, Watertown, 42-2; 6, Max Reinke, Pierre, 40-6.
High Jump: 1, Riley Sears, Pierre, 5-10; 2, Mitchell Guthmiller, Aberdeen Central, 5-10; 3, Justus St. Sauver, Watertown, 5-8; 4, Jesse Babcock, Aberdeen Central, 5-4; 5, (tie) Colton Cox, Aberdeen Roncalli, 5-4, and Mitch Musel, Aberdeen Roncalli, 5-4; 7, Dylan Vincent, Aberdeen Central, 5-0.
Long Jump: 1, Cody Kuehl, Pierre, 19-3 11/16; 2, Mike Stotz, Aberdeen Central, 18-11 1/16; 3, Mitchell Guthmiller, Aberdeen Central, 18-10 5/16; 4, Justus St. Sauver, Watertown, 18-10 5/16; 5, Layne Tieszen, Aberdeen Central, 18-3; 6, Bennett Eisenbeisz, Pierre, 18-0.
Triple Jump: 1, Cody Kuehl, Pierre, 39-11-1/2; 2, Mitch Musel, Aberdeen Roncalli, 37-3; 3, Mitchell Guthmiller, Aberdeen Central, 37-2; 4, Layne Tieszen, Aberdeen Central, 36-8; 5, Jacob Goehring, Aberdeen Central, 35-6; 6, Isaac Jones, Aberdeen Central, 35-4.
Pole Vault: 1, Colton Jordan, Watertown, 14-0; 2, Brian Anderson, Watertown, 12-6; 3, Austin Lemiux, Pierre, 12-6; 4, Marc Seitz, Aberdeen Central, 11-6; 5, Connor DeJong, Watertown, 11-6; 6, Colton Cox, Aberdeen Roncalli, 11-0.
960-Meter Relay: 1, Watertown (Bo Arnold, Dion Helgelien, Shay Bratland, Jess Poppen), 2:00.9; 2, Aberdeen Central, 2:05.2; 3, Watertown B, 2:06.5; 4, Pierre, 2:09.0; 5, Pierre B, 2:09.4; 6, Aberdeen Central B, 2:09.9.
1,600-Meter Relay: 1, Watertown (Bo Arnold, Jess Poppen, Mason Mennenga, Cody Feierabend), 3:53.1; 2, Aberdeen Central, 3:55.0; 3, Pierre, 3:55.2; 4, Aberdeen Roncalli, 3:57.5; 5, Pierre B, 4:06.4; 6, Aberdeen Roncalli, 4:26.7.
3,200-Meter Relay: Watertown (Brant Gilbertson, Sean Curly, Elliot VanWell, Nick Reiffenberger), 9:12.2; 2, Aberdeen Roncalli, 9:18.0; 3, Aberdeen Central, 10:17.3; 4, Watertown, 11:09.0.
|GIRLS' DIVISION|
55-Meter Hurdles: 1, Tess Johnson, Pierre, :08.90; 2, Logan Kludt, Watertown, :09.00; 3, Katie Berg, Pierre, :09.20; 4, Lindsey Hahler, Aberdeen Roncalli, :09.70; 5, Hailey Kline, Aberdeen Roncalli, :09.80; 6, Bailey Tollefson, Aberdeen Central, :09.90.
55-Meter Dash: 1, Macy Denzer, Watertown, :07.3; 2, Larissa Swanson, Aberdeen Central, :07.6; 3, Madison Russman, Aberdeen Central, :07.6; 4, Kelsey Schmitz, Pierre, :07.7; 5, Tory Snyder, Pierre, :07.8; 6, Molly Lauseng, Watertown, :07.9.
200-Meter Dash: 1, Elizabeth Raecke, Pierre, :28.50; 2, Tory Snyder, Pierre, :28.80; 3, Alli Cummings, Watertown, :29.00; 4, Katie Berg, Pierre, :29.20; 5, Whitney Scott, Watertown, :29.40; 6, Laike Doyen, Watertown, :29.80.
400-Meter Dash: 1, Kelsey Schmitz, Pierre, 1:05.7; 2, Madison Reeser, Watertown, 1:08.6; 3, Courtney Brandt, Pierre, 1:11.5; 4, Mercedes Snell, Watertown, 1:14.1; 5, Breanna Birgen, Aberdeen Central, 1:16.4; 6, Molly Reiffenberger, Watertown, 1:17.4.
800-Meter Run: 1, Sydney Waterman, Aberdeen Central, 2:35.8; 2, Eileen Leong, Pierre, 2:45.3; 3, Allison Meintsma, Pierre, 2:47.0; 4, Jory Mullen, Pierre, 2:52.5; 5, Sam Ullmann, Pierre, 2:53.6; 6, Mariah Fuchs, Pierre, 2:54.9.
1,500-Meter Run: 1, Hannah Kastigar, Aberdeen Central, 5:03.0 (ties meet record, B. Arment, Aberdeen Central, 2009); 2, Rachel Propst, Pierre, 5:05.5; 3, Kaylee Kappes, Aberdeen Central, 5:22.3; 4, Aspen Iverson, Pierre, 5:25.6; 5, Madisyn Waage, Aberdeen Central, 5:28.6; 6, Taylor Redlin, Watertown, 5:45.3.
3,000-Meter Run: 1, Karen Mayfield, Watertown, 11:19.3; 2, Sarah Polk, Pierre, 11:28.1; 3, Kaitlyn Volk, Aberdeen Central, 11:32.3; 4, Kayla Hopfinger, Aberdeen Roncalli, 13:44.8.
Shot Put: 1, Shekota Myer, Ipswich, 42-0 (meet record, old record 39-1, T. Luond, Ipswich, 2006); 2, Sydney Palmer, Pierre, 35-9-1/2; 3, Madison Kienow, Ipswich, 35-3-1/2; 4, McKenzie Werner, Watertown, 32-10; 5, Christy Renner, Aberdeen Roncalli, 31-10-1/2; 6, Sam Scepaniak, Aberdeen Central, 31-7.
High Jump: 1, Alexis Clark, Aberdeen Central, 5-11 (meet record, old record 5-7, K. Larson, Fargo North, 2010); 2, Ashley Caywood, Watertown, 4-9; 3, Holly Becking, Watertown, 4-9; 4, Danielle Gottsleben, Watertown, 4-7; 5, Nikki Farnsworth, Pierre, 4-3; 6, Paige Rogge, Watertown, 4-3.
Long Jump: 1, Larissa Swanson, Aberdeen Central, 16-9; 2, Danielle Gottsleben, Watertown, 15-4 9/16; 3, Jamie Larson, Aberdeen Central, 15-4; 4, Morgan Bones, Watertown, 15-0-1/2; 5, Brooke Braun, Aberdeen Central, 14-11; 6, Lauren Schumacher, Aberdeen Central, 14-9 .
Triple Jump: 1, Alexis Clark, Aberdeen Central, 34-8; 2, Morgan Bones, Watertown, 30-9; 3, Whitney King, Pierre, 28-9; 4, Sarah Rohrbach, Aberdeen Central, 26-5; 5, Lexi Gisi, Aberdeen Roncalli, 25-6.
Pole Vault: 1, Alexis Clark, Aberdeen Central, 11-6; 2, Sydney Dale, Watertown, 9-0; 3, Kaitlynn Weisenburger, Aberdeen Central, 8-0; 4, Allison Stadheim, Watertown, 8-0; 5, Whitney Scott, Watertown, 8-0; 6, Larissa Swanson, Aberdeen Central, 7-6.
960-Meter Relay: 1, Watertown (Molly DeSpiegler, Logan Kludt, Laike Doyen, Macy Denzer), 2:17.4; 2, Watertown B, 2:24.6; 3, Aberdeen Central, 2:25.5; 4, Pierre, 2:26.3; 5, Aberdeen Roncalli, 2:27.2; 6, Aberdeen Central B, 2:41.3.
1,600-Meter Relay: 1, Watertown (Macy Denzer, Tatum Hemiller, Jani Moran, Molly DeSpiegler), 4:19.2; 2, Pierre, 4:23.8; 3, Aberdeen Central, 4:33.3; Aberdeen Roncalli, 4:33.6.
3,200-Meter Relay: 1, Aberdeen Central (Lexi Weisbeck, Morghan Waage, Sydney Waterman, Hannah Kastigar), 10:06.9; 2, Pierre, 10:43.7; 3, Aberdeen Central, 10:57.4; 4, Watertown, 11:05.1; 5, Watertown B, 12:20.2.