Lincoln senior Ellen Merkley stood on the turf of Howard Wood Field, staring up at the bleachers as the crowd cheered her on for her achievements, taking it all in. Merkley was awarded the 2024 Howard Wood Gold Medal Scholarship on Saturday.

The Dakota Relays Gold Medal scholarship was established in 2000. The Howard Wood Dakota Relays Board of Directors created the scholarship to reward a South Dakota track and field student-athlete who has chosen to continue participation in the sport at the collegiate level in South Dakota.

“It was fun,” Merkley said of receiving the award. “I have been coming to Howard Wood since I was a seventh grader when I started competing with Lincoln. It’s just been so fun to watch all the different competitors and there’s been amazing competition here.”

Merkley applied for the scholarship and her coach James Jarovski wrote her a letter of recommendation telling the board why she deserved the recognition. Although she said it’s kind of cliche, Jarovski has always been in her corner through the good times and bad.

“No matter what, I can tell that he’s my biggest fan,” Merkley said of her head coach. 

Merkley was part of the team that set the state meet record in the 4×100. She also stood out from the crowd of applicants with her extracurricular activities. The senior is currently the editor-in-chief of the Lincoln High School student newspaper.

Merkley committed to continuing her track and field career, alongside her sister Lauren Merkley and a few other Lincoln alums, at Augustana University.

Here is the round-up of Sioux Falls-area schools from Day 2 of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays

• Brandon Valley’s Wyatt Melcher placed third in the Boys triple jump with a 44-07 leap, the second-best mark in AA.
• Sioux Falls Roosevelt’s David Ndong placed fifth in the Boys triple jump with a 43-11 leap.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Rylee Punt placed third in the Girls Pole Vault with a 11-03 mark.
• Brandon Valley’s Shelby Bergan finished third, broke her personal record, and set the top in Class AA in the Girls 300m hurdle with a 45.61 time.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Halle Braun finished fourth in the Girls 300m hurdle, setting the second-best time in Class A with a 45.76 mark.
• Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Luke Eichacker finished fourth in the Boys 300m hurdle, set a new personal record and the third-best mark in Class AA with a 40.26 time.
• Harrisburg’s Tate Larson finished fifth in the Boys 300m hurdle with a 40.46 time.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Girls 1600m sprint medley team of Ashlee VanDriesen, Mya VanDonge, Katie VanderLeest, and Ellie Maddox finished first with a time of 4:17.43.
• Brandon Valley’s Girls 1600m sprint medley team of Shelby Bergan, Madison Pederson, Addison Scholten, and Sarah VanDeBerg finished first with a time of 4:08.04.
• Harrisburg’s Girls 1600m sprint medley team of Brylee Krier, Amarise Okken, Ragyn Peska, and Bria Miller finished second with a time of 4:17.72.
• Sioux Falls Roosevelt’s Girls 1600m sprint medley team of Irene Thaenrat, Faith Peterson, Lily Tadlock, and Brooklyn Koll finished fourth with a time of 4:21.66.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Boys 1600 Meter Sprint Medley team of Kian Clapp, Levi Davelaar, Brant Wassenaar, and Alex Oberloh finished fifth with a time of 3:40.63.
• Harrisburg’s Boys 1600 Meter Sprint Medley team of Beau Karst, Jagger Lombard, Tytan Tryon, and Griffin Smith finished second with a time of 3:37.91.
• Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Boys 1600 Meter Sprint Medley team of Javin Augustus, Liam Van Roekel, Griffin Fischer, Tyrus Needles finished third with a time of 3:39.58.
• Sioux Falls Washington’s Boys 1600 Meter Sprint Medley team of Javon Haukaas, Ethan Rave, Carter Akkerman, and Mohamed Muse finished fourth with a time of 3:40.36.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Ana Vyn placed second in the Girls 400m and set the second-highest mark in Class A with a 57.78 time.
• Sioux Falls Washington’s Nyariek Kur placed third in the Girls 100m hurdles with a 15.09 time.
• Harrisburg’s Tate Larson placed third in the Boys 110m hurdles, setting a personal record and the second-best mark in Class AA with a 14.73 time.
• Harrisburg’s Clay Sonnenschein placed fifth in the Boys 110m hurdles with a 14.82 time.
• Lincoln’s Javin Augustus placed fifth in the Boys 100m with a time of 10.97.
• Harrisburg’s Lydia Van Stedum finished second in the Special Olympics Girls 100m with a 20.08 time.
• O’Gorman’s Libby Castelli set a new top mark in AA in the Girls 1600m with a 4:54.60 time.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Girls 4x100m team of Sydney Schaap, Katie VanderLeest, Ashlee VanDriesen, and Mya VanDonge finished second in the Class A competition with a time of 49.97.
• Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Girls 4x100m team of Ellen Merkley, Faith Kpeayeh, Ella Termaat, and Linnea Nesheim placed first and set a new high mark in Class AA with a 49.18 time.
• West Central’s Boys 4x100m team of Preston Butts, Ben Vuong, Patrick Hammond, and Layton Johnson set the fourth-highest mark in Class A with a 44.75 time and placed fifth.
• Sioux Falls Lincoln Boys 4x100m team of Javin Augustus, Josh Myers, Mikey Roche, and Griffin Fischer placed second and set the best mark in Class AA with a 42.24 time.
• Sioux Falls Jefferson Boys Unified 4x100m team of Jack Wagoner, Luke Determan, Kieran Weigelt, and Joseph Tongyik broke a school record and placed third with a 1:04.42 time.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Girls 4x400m team of Savaeh Sichmeller, Halle Braun, Corinne Braun, and Anna Vyn placed first, set a meet record, and the new top mark in Class A with a 4:00.58 time.
• Lennox’s Girls 4x400m team of Bergan Musser, Jayla DeCou, Tori Gerdes, and Karlie Bosma placed third and set the second-best mark in Class A with a 4:08.44 time.
• Brandon Valley’s Girls 4x400m team of Addison Scholten, Kyra Weiss, Sarah VanDeBerg, and Madison Pederson placed first and set the best mark in Class AA with a 3:57.78 time.
• Sioux Falls Roosevelt’s Girls 4x400m team of Faith Peterson, Brooklyn Koll, Emily Schuck, and Lily Tadlock placed third and set the fourth-best mark in Class AA with a 4:08.32 time.
• West Central’s Boys 4x400m team of Patrick Hammond, Elliot DeJong, Rylee Hartung, and Jude Jarding placed first and set the best mark in Class A with a 3:29.66 time.
• Sioux Falls Christian’s Boys 4x400m team of Kian Clapp, Brant Wassenaar, Alex Oberloh, and Bennett Wassenaar placed third with a 3:30.56 time.
• Lennox’s Boys 4x400m team of Drake Mikkelsen, Cloy McVey, Noah Sayler, and Cade Sherard placed fifth with a 3:33.95 time.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at@JFERN31