STURGIS, S.D. — Coaches always tell their athletes that ‘Hard Work Pays Off’. The foursome of Trevor Christman, Ridge Inhofer, Traeton Monahan and Kaden Phillips took those words to heart and ran the race of their young lives on Tuesday, May 18 at the Last Chance Meet in Sturgis.
Their 4×200 relay team ran a blazing 1:31.07 to win the event and set a new school record in the process on their home track at Woodle Field. Their time is the fifth best in Class AA so far this season. The foursome beat the previous school record of 1:31.60 set in 2017 by Cain Fritz, Connor Crane, Jarrett Keffeler and Sam Fjelstad.
“(Inhofer, Christman, Monahan, Phillips) have all worked extremely hard this season,” said head track coach Blake Proefrock. “We had an idea that breaking the school record would be possible, but once we started to lose so many opportunities due to the crazy spring weather we weren’t sure if it was actually going to happen.”
The Scoopers beat Rapid City Central, who came in second with a season best time of 1:31.63, and Douglas in third with a season best of 1:36.11. Conditions were perfect for some fast times with warm temperatures and light winds.
“It’s truly a great accomplishment because they also lost the entire season last year due to the pandemic,” Proefrock said. “It’s a testament to their persistence and competitiveness.”
The Scooper boys and girls teams dominated the relay events with the boys also winning the 4×400 meter relay and the 4×800 meter relay, and the girls taking gold in the 1600 meter sprint medley relay, the 4×200 and the 4×800 meter relays.
Individual boys Sturgis winners on Tuesday were Brody Eisenbraun in the 100 meter hurdles at 15.78 seconds, Aiden Hedderman in the 300 meter hurdles at 43.11 seconds and Deron Graf in the 3200 meter run at 10:33.34. Girls winners were Rachel Cammack in the pole vault at 10 feet, Makayla Keffeler in the triple jump with a leap of 34 feet, 10 inches and Lexi Long in the shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 10 inches.
No scores were kept at the meet. The teams competing in the Last Chance Meet were the Scoopers, Rapid City Central, Douglas, Rapid City Stevens and Spearfish. Next up for the Scooper thinclads is the State AA Track Meet on May 28 and 29 at Woodle Field.
