South Dakota

The athletes to watch at the South Dakota state track meet in Sioux Falls

Published

1 month ago

May 22, 2024

The athletes to watch at the South Dakota state track meet in Sioux Falls

SIOUX FALLS — The 2024 South Dakota State High School Track and Field Championships run Thursday through Saturday at Howard Wood Field.

Events kick off at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 9 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday with the final event (the boys’ 1,600-meter relay) slated for 2:40 p.m. on Saturday.

Below, here’s at least 20 reasons (athletes/relay teams) for area fans to keep an eye on this weekend.

Halle Bauer, Great Plains Lutheran

The Panther standout and South Dakota State University recruit missed her senior season of cross country because of an injury but returned this spring and did qualify for six events. She’s slated to run the Class A 400-meter dash and 1,600-meter run and also seems likely to be used in GPL’s medley and 1,600 relays.

Bauer has placed in at least five individual events at state meets during her career.

Malia Kranz, Watertown

The Arrow sophomore heads into the state meet with the top throw in the Class AA girls’ discus (139-3) and the third-best throw in the shot put.

She took sixth in the shot put last year and broke Watertown’s school record with a toss of 43 feet, 8 inches at an indoor meet earlier this spring.

David VanVeen, Aberdeen Central

The Golden Eagle senior has come on strong this spring and enters the state meet with the second-best time in the Class AA boys’ 1,600-meter run and sixth-best in the 3,200.

Chloe Raw, Arlington

The junior speedster finished second in both the Class B girls’ 100- and 200-meter dashes last spring and has recorded the best times in both the 100 (12.03) and 200 (24.86) heading into the state meet.

Ella Boekelheide, Northwestern

Who knows how many events the sophomore standout could run if she wasn’t limited to four. She’s slated to run the 400, 800, 1,600 and 3,200 runs in Class B girls division this weekend. She has the top time in the 800 (2:05.07), second-best times in both the 1,600 and 3,200 and fourth-best in the 400.

Her track record at state includes wins the 1,600 and 3,200 along with a fifth-place finish in the 800 in 2022 and runner-up finishes in all three races in 2023.

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Ciara Frank, Aberdeen Central

The senior is a two-time state Class AA place winner in the high jump (second in 2023 and sixth in 2022) and also finished third in the long jump last spring.

She enters the state meet No. 3 in the high jump and No. 4 in the long jump.

Owen Spartz, Watertown

The University of South Dakota recruit is looking to become the first Arrow boys’ pole vaulter to win three state titles in the event, but has spent most of the spring behind fellow USD recruit Beau Karst of Harrisburg, the new state record-holder in the event (16-3).

Keep a look out for more on Spartz in a feature story slated to come out Thursday.

Owen Fieber, Deuel & Zac VanMeeteren, Hamlin

Fieber, a junior, took fourth in the Class A boys’ 100-meter dash last spring and enters the state meet with the second-best 100 and eighth-best 200. He has been out with an injury, but is listed among the state entrants.

VanMeeteren, another junior, has stepped up during Fieber’s absence and has the second-best 200 and fourth-best 100 and 400 times among the state entrants. VanMeeteren’s teammate Luke Fraser, a senior, has ran the sixth-best time in the 400.

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Isabelle Bloker, Sioux Valley

Bloker has placed in both the Class A girls’ 1,600- and 3,200-meter run at state each of the past two years, including victories in both races in 2023.

She enters state with the best 3,200 time (10:34.25) and second-best 1,600.

Kaleb Foltz, Tri-State

Like Boekelheide, Foltz is a distance standout who is also becoming more of a sprinter. He placed fourth in the Class A boys’ 800, fifth in the 400 and sixth in the 1,600 in the 2023 state meet. He won the 800 and 1,600 and also placed in both events in Class B in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

He’s currently No. 1 in the 800 (1:52.24), third in the 400 and seventh in the 1,600.

Deubrook Area Relays

The Dolphins are back in Class B where they’ve had success, including three-straight state Class B girls division championships from 2017-19.

Deubrook Area’s girls enter the state meet with the top time in the medley (4:22.25) and third-best time the 3,200. The Dolphin boys have the third-best 800 time and top times in the 1,600 (3:29.9), 3,200 (8;14.39) and medley (3:41.46).

Ipswich Pole Vaulters

The Tigers have the top Class B vaulters in boys (junior Rasmus Loken, 13-0) and girls (freshman Jalyssa Hutson, 10-6). Loken took third and Hutson second in last year’s state meet.

Sophomore Marley Guthmiller has placed third in the girls each of the past two years and enters state at No. 3. Sophomore Brody Davis (fifth) is also a returning state place winner for the boys.

Payton Brown & James Batchelor, Milbank

Here’s two talented senior distance runners for the Bulldogs. Brown has run the third-best times in both the boys’ 800 and 1,600 runs. Teammate James Batchelor has the fourth-best 1,600.

They could also factor in on the Bulldog relay teams that currently are second in the medley and third in the 3,200.

Boaz Raderschadt, Watertown

The senior University of North Dakota recruit is one of limited group of Watertown athletes who could win a state title. He enters state wth the second-best throw in the throw in the Class AA shot put and fourth-best in the discus. He finished seventh in the shot put last spring.

Cristhian Rodriguez, Matthew Mount, Robert Begalka & Dustin Wurtz

Here’s four more boys’ throwers to keep an eye on. Rodriguez, a senior from Hamlin, has the top throw in the Class A javelin (169-2) and third-best in the discus. Mount, a sophomore from Webster Area, is fifth in the shot put and sixth in the discus and Begalka, a senior from Deuel, fourth in the shot and seventh in the discus. Mount placed fifth in the shot put and Begalka sixth in the discus in 2023.

Wurtz, a junior from Leola, finished second in the Class B discus and sixth in the shot put at last spring and has the third-best throw in the shot put and fifth-best in the discus so far this spring.

Shawnteah La Croix, Aberdeen Christian

The sophomore sprinter has placed in the Class B girls’ 100 and 200 dashes at each of the last two state meets and and has used that speed to become successful in another event this spring. She enters the state meet No. 2 in the long jump and No. 3 in both the 100 and 200.

Lincoln Woodring, Northwestern

A runner-up in the Class B 800 and a sixth-place finishers in the 1,600 last spring, the junior has the best time in the field in the 800 (1:57.47) and fifth-best time in the 1,600. He also should anchor Northwestern’s No. 2 medley relay.

Emmett Hanson, Milbank

Acccording to numbers, the junior is the cream of the crop for area hurdlers. He heads to the state meet with the thrid-best Class A time in the 300s and the fourth-best in the 100s.

Ipswich (boys) & Potter County (girls) Relays

Ipswich has the fastest times this spring in both the Class B boys’ 400 (44.11) and 800 relays (1:31.3).

Potter County’s girls have the fastest Class B time in the 1,600 (4:08.64), second-fastest in the 3,200 and fourth-fastest in the medley.

Trevor Heinz, Ipswich & Spencer Melius, Faulkton Area

These two area athletes also head to the state meet the top distances in Class B boys’ field events.

Heinz, a senior, is No. 1 in the long jump (22-6.5) and Melius, a sophomore, No. 1 in the javelin (170-0).

State Track Meet Schedule: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.sdhsaa.com/Athletics/TF-MeetSchedule.pdf

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

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South Dakota

TenHaken issues emergency declaration as flood forces untreated wastewater into Big Sioux River

Published

4 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

TenHaken issues emergency declaration as flood forces untreated wastewater into Big Sioux River

In the wake of a deluge, the next 48 hours will be crucial for not only Sioux Falls, but also the health of the Big Sioux River.

Mayor Paul TenHaken signed an executive order to issue an emergency declaration Saturday after days of persistent precipitation inundated the city, along with southeastern South Dakota as a whole, with significant amounts of rainfall.

This will allow the city to skip the bid process to hire contractors and procure equipment to more quickly respond to the flood situation.

In a 7 a.m. virtual press conference Saturday hosted by Gov. Kristi Noem, TenHaken told reporters the city’s retention ponds, used specifically in flood events, were all at capacity.

As the city’s wastewater system undergoes the “most strain the system has ever had,” as TenHaken described during the presser, the mayor urged residents to limit water usage as the city’s wastewater system undergoes the

“We have thousands of people depending on this system,” TenHaken said. “We need people to limit their wastewater use right now, and that means limiting doing loads of laundry. If you can avoid a shower today, that will be great. If you can avoid anything that puts capacity or strain on the system, it will be an incredible benefit to what we’re seeing right now.”

Hours later, Marc Cotter, the city’s director of public works, elaborated on the capacity issues during a 10:30 a.m. press conference held at the city’s Public Safety Campus. He told reporters the Sioux Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant ran out of storage for excess wastewater in the system.

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As a result, plant operators were forced to discharge untreated wastewater into the Big Sioux River at 7:15 a.m. Saturday.

This decision was a “last resort,” Cotter emphasized. The wastewater plant’s inflow was measured at about 45 million gallons per day Saturday, Cotter said, while about 34 million gallons per day were diverted into storage basins.

Collectively, that’s about four times the normal amount of water the plant typically sees, the publics work director estimated.

A “significant amount” of the excess water is comprised of rainwater and groundwater, Cotter explained.

“The state also knows that, so when we test the river, upstream and downstream, we expect to see, you know, a significant amount of dilution that occurs with that,” Cotter said. “But it is always our last resort. We’ll only do it for the minimum amount of time that’s required until the system catches up.”

Cotter said the last time the city had to discharge raw wastewater was in 2010. He called it a “very uncommon” event.

There’s a safety rationale behind the decision, since releasing the excess water quickly was meant to protect property and keep wastewater out of neighborhoods, Cotter explained.

“The large storage systems that we’ve built for days like this, you know, those have also been great assets for us up until this point, and they’ve worked really good for this event, but just the peak of this just wasn’t enough,” Cotter said.

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Asked how officials will respond if the city’s flood contingencies continue to stay at or surpass capacity, the public works head told the Argus Leader they’re reliant on a current National Weather Service that’s favoring sunshine and drier weather later Saturday through early next week.

In any event, they’ll “adapt accordingly,” Cotter said.

“If things were to change, our systems are, we’ve been managing this on an hour by hour basis …,” he said. “But I think we all are looking forward to the sun coming out and starting to dry this place out.”

The flooding has also given rise to rescue events, City Emergency Management Director Regan Smith told reporters.

Since Friday morning, Smith said there have been nine water rescues in Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County, all of which were successful.

In the same region, Smith said there have also been five calls for stranded motorists, 30 for vehicles stalled in water, 10 regarding water problems and 75 traffic accidents.

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South Dakota

Gov. Noem provides update on flooding in South Dakota

Published

11 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

Gov. Noem provides update on flooding in South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – On Saturday morning, Governor Kristi Noem held a press briefing where she provided an update on continued storms and flooding across the state.

The Governor said that while the rain may be stopping, the bigger issues are set to arrive on Monday and Tuesday.

“The James River, which again will crest on Monday or Tuesday. Big Sioux will crest Tuesday at 7:00 a.m., that’s gonna set a record for us. It’ll be around 38.4. And then the Vermillion River at 30 foot. Again on Tuesday, we’ll crest sometime that morning. So that’s really when we’re gonna see the bulk of that water moving through the system and we’re working to be prepared for that,” said Gov. Noem.

Noem also advised residents impacted by the floods to immediately contact their insurance, which will help determine if the state can call a declaration for disaster.

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South Dakota

Flooded farmland in southeastern South Dakota

Published

18 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

Flooded farmland in southeastern South Dakota

SOUTH DAKOTA, S.D. (KELO) – Flooded fields are a common sight all around southeastern South Dakota after this week’s rain.

Now farmers are dealing with the aftermath as even more storms are forecasted.

We found flooded farmland that now looks more like a river just outside of Davis in Turner County. The owners of the land say their pumpkin patch and sweet corn fields are all under water after more than eight inches of rain fell.

Some farmhouses in rural South Dakota are now completely surrounded by water with silos and barns on islands of their own near Viborg.

Over in Yankton County, you can hardly tell where the boundaries of the James River are in one field.

It’s not just flooded fields that some farmers are having to deal with, one farmer near Lesterville in Yankton County has had some issues because of a rising creek.

“Our creeks are full, you know,” farmer Daniel Kubal said. “We’re a little concerned with livestock out there, it did sweep away a baby calf yesterday for us and, you know, it can be devastating when you’re dealing with livestock in these high creeks and things like that.”

Kubal says the flooding he’s seeing isn’t as bad as farms to the north of him, but he’s made sure his cattle are moved up to higher ground to prepare for the next rounds of rain.

“Rain is good, it’s hard to turn away, you know,” Kubal said. “You just kind of got to go with it. We know what it’s like when we don’t have it. It’s a blessing when you do and sometimes you just get way more than you need. You just learn to deal with it.”

The farmer I spoke with in Davis, South Dakota, says it’s been about four years since they’ve seen rain this heavy.

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