Boys, girls place third at BHC meet

Only a few weeks after becoming the all-time all-class leader in the triple jump in state history, Custer senior Cade Lehman has made a little more history.
Lehman hit a leap of 23-8 1/2 in the long jump at last week’s Black Hills Conference meet in Belle Fourche, another personal best and extension of his school record. It is also the fourth-longest jump in state history, regardless of class.
“Cade’s long jump,” Custer head coach Karen Karim said. “Are you kidding me?”
It was just one of several gold medals and personal records (PR) at the meet, as both the Wildcat boys and girls finished in third place in the meet, behind only Spearfish and Sturgis, Class AA schools that bring much larger teams to the meets.
Making the finishes that more impressive is that not all of the top Wildcat athletes competed in sure-fire medal events.
“We had some younger kids who ran four events because they needed the opportunities,” Karim said. “In general we didn’t really overdo anything. And we had some pretty good performances. Kids stepped up and ran pretty well. My priority is keeping people healthy or getting people healthy.”
Lehman’s long jump was the first of his two medals, with the other coming in the 100, where he finished in second with a time of 11.24, just .04 behind the gold medal-winning time.
Roland Sedlacek continued to dominate the javelin, as he hit a top mark of 165-10, good for a gold medal, while the 3200 relay team of Austin Drew, Tyler Cooper, Sean Shipp and Peyton Krueger brought home a gold medal of their own in a time of 8:39.05.
Carter Tennyson showed he is rounding into his best form in the high jump as he finished with a top height of 6-3, good for second place, while Kyle Virtue was third in the discus with a personal record best throw of 138-1, Ayden Dooley was third in the pole vault with a PR top height of 11-5, and the medley team of Dillon Hanis, Marcus Merrill, Dalton Marshall and Sean Shipp (3:53.04) also finished third.
Lincoln Golder picked up a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a top throw of 43-10 1/4.
The Wildcats picked up a fifth place finish from Ezra Wollman in the pole vault as he also topped 11-5, and sixth-place finishes included Kawika Johncour in the triple jump at 37-11 3/4, Golder in the discus (129-7), Krueger in the 3200 (10:29.88), Zach Cooper in the 800 (2:03.51 PR), Zane Gunnell in the 1600 (4:55.43), Torin Knight in the javelin (145-3 PR), Wyatt DeFreece in the pole vault (9-11) and the 1600 relay team of Daniel Wozny, Cooper, Knight and Jackson Wiles in a time of 3:43.00.
The 800 relay team of Willman, Dooley, Johncour and Caleb Fisher was seventh at 1:44.32, while Wiles was eighth in the 800 at 2:05.07, Sedlacek was eighth in the high jump at 5-9 and the 400 relay team of Wozny, Hanis, Marcus Merrill and Mason Dirkes rounded out the placing in eighth at 48.67.
The boys team finished the meet with 103 team points.
History was made on the girls side as well, as sophomore pole vaulter Kelsey Stiefel continued her ascension up the all-time state ranks in the event when she cleared 12-5 at the meet, good for a gold medal, a PR and entry into the state’s all-time all-class top 10 in the event, a place her sisters Ciana and Tenlee—who placed fourth and fifth with top heights of 10-11—already reside.
The Wildcats brought home two more gold medals from the meet, as Karyn Ellerton won the discus with a top throw of 129-9, while Jayda Bennett set a new PR in the 100 hurdles on her way to victory in a time of 15.34.
Jojo Larsen ran her way to second in the 100 in a time of 12.28, while Rylan Lowe was third in the discus with a PR throw of 114-0, and the 400 relay team of Bennett, Addie Sander, Siena Schultz and Sienna Musumeci was also third at 51.81.
The 3200 relay team of Keira Alfson, Makenzi Ham, Ava Miller and Kiran Pesicka was fourth with a time of 10:44.92, and Jessica Hite continues to come on strong in the shot put late into the season, as she hit a PR throw of 33-10 1/4 to place fourth. Alfson was fourth in the 3200 in a PR time of 12:31.40. Rounding out the fourth-place finishes was the medley relay team of Schultz, Sander, Pesicka and Pesicka in a time of 4:29.81.
Tenlee Stiefel finished fifth in the high jump with a top height of 5-11, as did the 1600 relay team of Kelsey Stiefel, Taylor Busch, Schultz and Sander in a time of 4:17.09. Ellerton was fifth in the shot put with a best throw of 32-9 3/4.
A sixth-place finish came from Ava Hohn in the discus with a best throw of 87-0, and Ariyah Bennett was eighth in the shot put with a top heave of 30-11 3/4.
The Wildcat girls finished the meet with 95 team points.
The final meet of the season prior to the state track meet is this Thursday, as the Wildcats head to the Last Chance Meet at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City.
Each team can have up to six entries per event in the meet, which means a lot of Wildcats will head to Rapid City looking to either solidify a spot at the state meet, set another PR or simply finish up the season strong as they head into the summer.
“We’ll get some training in and solidify some things for state or give other kids a last chance at getting a PR as they wrap up the season,” Karim said.