The Howard Wood Dakota Relays are back after a year off due to renovations at the Sioux Falls stadium where the relays are held.
Howard Wood Field will host the 88th running of the relays today and Saturday. As always, it will feature some of the top high school and college track and field athletes in the Upper Midwest.
As usual, the weather conditions are not expected to be good, especially on Saturday, when high temperatures in Sioux Falls are expected to be in the 40s with high winds and a 70 percent chance of rain.
Normally, Howard Wood is a good mid-season gauge for track coaches to see where their best athletes stack up against the state's best. This season with the snowy weather in April, the relays are more of an early-season affair.
Coaches and athletes will be happy just to be outdoors and competing - whatever this weekend's weather holds in store for them.
"I like the high level of competition with teams from all around the surrounding states and Canada," Aberdeen Central girls' coach Jim Appl said. "It is a good opportunity to test your athletes among the Midwest's finest athletes."
Aberdeen Roncalli boys' coach Terry Dosch said he likes the competition provided by athletes from different classes and states. "It is an opportunity to compete against outstanding competition that often can be even better than the state meet. Next, it is a great atmosphere for track and field that athletes and spectators don't often get to experience."
Potter County track coach Vern Smith added, "I like having the high school athletes get a chance to see college track athletes compete at a high level, which oftentimes they don't otherwise get to do. It is also great for the high school athletes to get to compete against other good athletes in front of a large crowd prior to the state meet."
The $6.7 million renovation of the 55-year-old Howard Wood Field made its debut last fall when Sioux Falls Roosevelt hosted Aberdeen Central in a season-opening football game. The facility closed in October 2011 for the renovations.
The first track at the stadium was installed in 1978, and it got a new coating in 1990. With this latest total replacement, the polyurethane surface is the same used by several Olympic trial tracks.
The renovations included a new press box, fresh concrete in the grandstands and wooden seating replaced with aluminum. Filling both sides of the stadium will seat 5,000.
Since the relays missed a year, there will be two special invitation-only races for high school girls and boys this year:
- The girls' 800 meters at 7:55 p.m. Friday will feature Ipswich eighth-grader Macy Heinz.
- The girls' 200 meters will be at 7 p.m. Saturday.
- The boys' 800 meters at 6:30 p.m. Saturday will feature former Eureka resident and Sturgis sophomore Jacob Simmons.
- The boys' 200 meters will be at 7:25 p.m. Friday.