John Papendick: Track landscape has changed in South Dakota, but some traditions remain
When I was growing up in South Dakota in the 1960s and 1970s, big regular-season track meets included ones such as the Tyndall Relays, the Corn Palace Relays in Mitchell, the Watoma Relays in Watertown, Track-O-Rama in Rapid City and the Aberdeen Relays.
And of course, the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls. That has always been like another state meet at the beginning of May.
There were others. But those were definitely some meets used as measuring sticks by individuals and teams to gauge how good they actually were. Even if they didn’t attend such meets, there was a lot of interest statewide in winning times and distances.
Of course, the Tyndall Relays and Aberdeen Relays have fallen by the wayside. Aberdeen has hosted other big meets under different names. And the tiny town of Tyndall used to be a mecca of South Dakota track.
However, it seems to me, it is harder and harder to keep long-time track meets running. It takes a lot of organization to prepare for a track meet and a lot of volunteers to run one.
It takes year-round planning to pull off the Howard Wood relays each year. It has grown from a one-day event from its first meet on May 4, 1923, to a two-day meet that now features more than 3,000 athletes from a multiple states. The 97th running of the meet is scheduled for this weekend.
While a few long-time meets are flourishing, others have been working though some years of bad luck. Take the Corn Palace Relays in Mitchell, for example.
The Corn Palace Relays have been a spring track tradition for Mitchell and South Dakota for seven decades. On April 18, 1947, the first Corn Palace Relays were held with organizer and Mitchell track coach Joe Quintal reporting about 50 high schools and colleges from the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota taking part.
When the 70th Palace Corn Palace Relays were held on April 17, 2021, it was the first time in four years that the meet was held. The 69th meet was held in Mitchell in 2017.
But in 2018, 16 inches of snow in Mitchell wiped out the mid-April meet. Weather again took out the 2019 meet and COVID-19 shut down all South Dakota track in 2020. This year, ridiculously high winds blew away the Mitchell meet.
The 59th running of the Watoma Relays in Watertown happened on April 22. Despite high winds, 14 meet records fell. But weather and COVID-19 also wiped out the Watoma Relays from 2018-20.
Track-O-Rama in Rapid City also has had its problems dealing with weather issues, with several postponements turning into a few cancellations during the past years. This year, Track-O-Rama was held April 19. In 2021, the running events were cancelled and a special field events-only version of the meet was held.
In the first Track-O-Rama on May 9, 1964, the Rapid City Cobblers boys team won the Class A division and Edgemont the B division (there were no girls divisions). Speedster Dick Manley and hurdle specialist Sid Hansen led the Rapid City charge that day.
Anyway, it is interesting to see how much the landscape of track and field changes from year to year and decade to decade.
Naturally, all South Dakota spring sports have their weather nightmare stories to share. Spring teams, whether high school or college, have gone days and weeks without games, and some teams have played entire seasons without having a single home game. Some teams get to the postseason having playing only a handful of games.
This spring, we’ve had high winds with rain, snowstorms and tornado warnings. Sometimes on the same day. It has been a wild spring with a wide variety of weather systems.
And speaking of track, how about one of Northern State’s all-time greats, All-American thrower Tanner Berg. Last weekend, the Watertown native had a runner-up finish at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. Berg reset his school record in the hammer throw, breaking the 70-meter mark (a milestone for hammer throwers) with an effort of 230.87 feet.
Long-time South Dakota journalist John Papendick is a freelance writer, public speaker and seeker of new life experiences. Email: papendickjohn@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: John papendick column Track traditions remain despite spring weather
