Photos: Aidan DeBoer | Josh Jurgens | SDPB
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Individual state championships from Charlie Whiting and Malia Kranz highlighted a dominant weekend for the Watertown track and field teams at the state meet. The Arrow girls secured a sixth-place team finish with 61.83 points, while the boys finished 10th overall with 29 points.
Whiting captured the state title in the boys pole vault, clearing an impressive 15 feet even to take first place. Teammate Asher Young added to the vault crew’s success, placing fifth with a height of 14-00.00.
On the girls’ side, Kranz captured the state championship in the discus throw with a top mark of 137 feet, 8 inches. She also earned a runner-up finish in the shot put with a distance of 39-03.75. Allison Konrad joined Kranz on the discus podium, placing fifth with a throw of 115-00.
The Watertown girls’ sprint duo of Anna Hirtz and Alayna Smith routinely found the podium. Hirtz claimed second place in the 200-meter dash in 25.38 seconds, while Smith followed closely in fourth at 25.18. The pair flipped positions in the 100-meter dash, where Smith took fourth (12.21) and Hirtz finished fifth (12.23).
The Watertown girls 4×100-meter relay team sprinted their way to a second-place finish in 48.79 seconds. The 4×200-meter relay squad also earned points, placing fifth in 1:44.26.
Dane Stark led the boys’ running events with two podium finishes, placing fifth in the 800-meter run (1:55.31) and sixth in the 3200-meter run (9:21.73). The boys 1600-meter sprint medley relay team also scored, placing eighth with a time of 3:36.85.
In the high jump, Merrik Engels paced the boys with a fifth-place finish by clearing 6-04.00, while Kye Paulson finished 10th at 6-02.00. For the girls, Mayla McGhee placed eighth in the high jump after clearing 5-01.00.
Other notable field performances for the girls included Elly Dingsor, who took fourth in the pole vault (11-09.00), while Hensley Hogue placed ninth (10-09.00). Shauna Evenson finished 10th in the triple jump (34-11.00) and Jordan Remmers placed 13th in the javelin (110-09).
For the boys, Jonas Geier placed 13th in the javelin throw (150-06), Hunter Peterson took 14th in the shot put (47-03.50), and the 4×100-meter relay team finished 11th in 44.40 seconds.
For the girls, distance runner Grace McElroy placed eighth in the 3200-meter run (11:08.35) and 13th in the 1600-meter run (5:21.80).
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