By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

The Dell Rapids boys track team captured the Class ‘A’ State Track and Field title in Rapid City on Saturday.
The Quarriers finished the meet with 90 points. Harrisburg was second with 59 points.
The girls finished sixth in the two-day state meet. The effort of the teams earned Dell Rapids the combined school team title.
Boys Coach Doug Fiedler said it was almost perfect for the boys. “Everything we wanted to do and tried to do worked,” he said. “We couldn’t draw it up any better.
“Obviously, Matt getting four gold medals and winning both hurdles, Chris winning the 200 and Kyle winning the 400, pushed us over the top,” he added. “There were no guarantees in any of them. I thought Connor O’Hara and Taylor Huska ran exceptionally well.”
Dunbar was a double-winner in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. He won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.90 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 39.53.
Chris Curry captured the 200-meter dash in 22.60, while Kyle Tibke was third in 22.92. Tibke won the 400-meter dash in 49.65, while Curry was fourth in 51.02.
The Quarriers also had two relay teams that captured titles. The 4x200-meter relay team won in 1:29.81, which was a state meet record. The runners were Dunbar, Curry, Taylor Huska and Tibke. The same runners won the 4x400-meter relay team in a time of 3:26.47.
The 4x100-meter relay team was fourth in 44.74 and the sprint medley relay team was third in 3:45.24. Running on the 4x100 were Landon Lueders, Ben Mitchell, Tate Bunkers and Huska. Runners on the sprint medley were Zach Gunn, Travis Delker, Huska and Connor O’Hara. The 4x800-meter relay team was 10th. Runners competing were Jordan Munk, Evan Leebens, O’Hara and Thomas Geraets.
Ben Mitchell was second in the triple jump going 44 feet, 1 ½ inches, while Tate Bunkers was ninth in the high jump clearing 6-1. Greg Schwebach threw the shot put 46-6, good enough for a 10th place finish.
Dell Rapids Girls
The Quarriers girls team had their best finish at the state meet in school history. The team scored 30 points and placed sixth. St. Thomas More won the team title with 71 points.
“Sixth place was a great accomplishment,” Coach Steve Hegge said. “Receiving the combination team trophy just topped it off.”
Alyssa Frantz sparked the Quarriers by winning the 100-meter dash and finishing second in the 200-meter dash. “It was a nice surprise getting Frantz second in the 200-meter dash,” Hegge said. “She just has speed. She is fast.”
Dell Rapids also had two place winners in the shot put. Meghan Paul finished third with a throw of 37-9 ½ and Samantha Rus was fourth with a throw of 37-5 ½. Shelby Bailey also competed in the discus with a throw of 91-10, while Dena Reiff participated in the triple jump going 31-7.
The Quarriers had one relay team place. The 4x800-meter relay team ended the state meet in eighth place with a time of 10:15.52. Runners were Brittney Schlaikjer, Krista Schnieders, Morgan VanDam and Haley Fiedler.
Other relay teams participating were the 4x200-meter relay team and the sprint medley relay team. The 4x200-meter relay team ended the race in 1:55.90. Running were Paige Bunkers, Taylor Richter, Schnieders and Frantz. The sprint medley relay team finished in a time of 4:40.53. Competing were Sarah Leber, Frantz, Schnieders and Fiedler.
Dell Rapids St. Mary
Austin Schnieders was fifth in the triple jump going 42-4, while Colby Bunkers was eighth with a jump of 40-8. Schnieders also competed in the long jump going 20-8, which was good enough for fifth.
The duo were able to score nine point for the Cardinals.
“They both were focused and had their best jumps of the day on their first jump,” Coach Blaine Bacon said. “It was quite an accomplishment for Colby to place in the state because he just made the state in the last event of the year.”
On the girls side, Mikayla Brown competed in the 100-meter dash preliminaries finishing with a time of 13.5. Ellie Everist ran in the 200-meter dash preliminaries and finished in 28.4.
“I was excited for them to make it to state and have fun and hopefully something for them to build on and look forward to,” Bacon said.
“Hopefully, they can bring that experience to the other younger girls.”
Baltic
Marissa Whipple competed in both the shot put and discus at the state track meet. In the shot put she finished with a throw of 37-11, which gave her a second place finish. In the discus, she was 10th with a throw of 100-3.
Alison Syverson ran in both the 200-meter dash and 300-meter hurdle preliminaries. She placed eighth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 51.52. In the 200-meter dash she finished with a time of 28.49 in the preliminaries.
Danya Johnson completed the 3,200-meter run in 14:09.46, while Katherine Daugaard completed the run in 14:17.84.
Cody Lobdell finished 12th in the discus with a throw of 131 feet.
Coach Rory LaValliere said the kids did a very good job against the toughest competition they had seen all year. “They handled it well,” he said. “A lot of them are young and they will gain from this experience as they prepare for next year.”