ESD Track: Owen Spartz sets record, Kate McElroy wins 3,200 to lead Watertown teams

Roger Merriam, Watertown Public Opinion
·3 min read
Hunter Wientjes of Watertown competes in the boys' shot put during the Eastern South Dakota Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Yankton's Williams Field. Wientjes placed in both the shot put and discus.
Hunter Wientjes of Watertown competes in the boys' shot put during the Eastern South Dakota Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Yankton's Williams Field. Wientjes placed in both the shot put and discus.

YANKTON — Sophomore Owen Spartz set a record in the boys' pole vault and seventh-grader Kate McElroy added a victory in the girls' 3,200-meter run to lead Watertown High School's performance in the Eastern South Dakota Conference track meet on Saturday.

Spartz won the boys' pole vault with a vault of 15-5, eclipsing the previous meet record of 15-4 that was set by Trent Francom of Huron in 2017. McElroy won the girls' 3,200 in 12 minutes and 9.72 seconds.

Spartz was the only athlete to break a meet record, also bettered his school record of 15-3 from earlier in the season. The boys' and girls' javelin was held for the first time, so event winners also technically set meet records.

The Arrows finished sixth out nine teams in the boys division with 75.5 points and seventh the girls division with 67.

"We had some things that didn't go our way today, but that's how it goes," said Watertown head coach Chad Rohde. "That's why you compete.

"We're young and we were just talking about how many freshmen we had along who gained some pretty valuable experience for the future."

Some Watertown athletes will compete Tuesday in the Watertown-Brookings throwdown at Brookings before the Arrows wrap up their regular season Thursday in the Mark Wendelgass Relays at Huron.

Brandon Valley Sweeps

The Lynx won the girls division for the eighth-straight meet with 191.33 points, followed by Harrisburg with 115 and Brookings 93.33. Brandon Valley also return to the top in the boys division with 157.5, followed by Yankton at 135.5 and defending champion Aberdeen Central 116.5.

Meghan Walker won the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes for Brandon Valley's girls and also ran on the winning 1,600 relay. The Lynx also won the 800, medley and 3,200 relays.

Jeremiah Donahoe swept the hurdle races (110 and 300) to lead Brandon Valley's boys, who also won the 400, 800 and medley relays.

Josh Martin of Aberdeen Central also had a good day, winning the boys' 800, 1,600 and 3,200 runs.

Watertown's Trinity Hodorff competes in the girls' pole vault during the Eastern South Dakota Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Yankton's Williams Field. Hodorff finished second in the event.
Watertown's Trinity Hodorff competes in the girls' pole vault during the Eastern South Dakota Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Yankton's Williams Field. Hodorff finished second in the event.

Other Watertown Girls Placers

McElroy also finished seventh in the 1,600 run. Other Arrow place winners were Myah Morris, third in 100 hurdles and sixth in triple jump; Paige McAreavey, fifth in discus; Malia Kranz, seventh in shot put and eighth in discus; Trinity Hodorff, second in pole vault; Jordyn Padgett, eight in pole vault; Maddy Rohde, fourth in javelin; Jaida Young, fifth in javelin and seventh in 400 dash; Emma List, eighth in 1,600 run; Eve Hauger, sixth in 400 dash; and Victoria Smith, sixth in 800 run.

Watertown took fourth in the 1,600 relay (Emery Thury, Young, Smith and Hauger) and the 3,200 relay (List, Kristen Schulte, McElroy and Smith) and seventh in the 800 relay (Anna Hirtz, Emma and Molly Hendricks and MaKia Moe).

Watertown's Boaz Radershadt competes in the boys' shot put during the Eastern South Dakota Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Yankton's Williams Field. Raderschadt took fifth in the event.
Watertown's Boaz Radershadt competes in the boys' shot put during the Eastern South Dakota Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Yankton's Williams Field. Raderschadt took fifth in the event.

Other Watertown Boys Placers

Other individual-event place winners for the Arrow boys included Juven Hudson, tied for third in triple jump and eighth in long jump; Boaz Raderschadt, fifth in shot put; Hunter Wientjes, eighth in shot put and sixth in discus; Cole Holden, second in javelin; Collin Dingsor, fourth in 110 hurdles and third in 300 hurdles; Evan Halbe, sixth in 1,600 run and sixth in 3,200 run; Jaxson Fiechtner, fourth in 400 dash and third in 800 run; and Jack Heesch, fifth in pole vault.

Watertown took fifth in the 400 relay (Dingsor, Holden, Spartz and Hudson), sixth in the medley relay (Jesse Werner, Hassan Jabbie, Jesse Pietz and Halbe), sixth in the 1,600 relay (Dalton Baumberger, Pietz, Jeremiah Schulte and Fiechtner) and seventh in the 3,200 relay (Schulte, Jay Remmers, Garrett Antoine and Alex Lam).

Complete meet results are posted online at www.thepublicopinion.com.

• Eastern SD Conference (May 14): https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22014941-2022-esd-conference-meet-at-yankton-final

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: ESD Track: Owen Spartz sets record, Kate McElroy wins 3,200 to lead Watertown teams