Meet the Howard Wood Dakota Relays girls 800-meter special event field
The participants for girls special event at this year's Howard Wood Dakota Relays have been unveiled.
The Girls Special 800 features five South Dakota runners, including two from Sioux Falls O'Gorman. The race is slated for 6:35 p.m. Friday and will feature one runner from North Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.
The Boys Special 200 field will be released Tuesday morning and be printed in Wednesday's Argus Leader.
The Dakota Relays are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Howard Wood Field. Portions of the meet will be televised live on Midco Sports, beginning Friday at 6 p.m. and continuing Saturday at 1 p.m.
1 - Madison Brouwer
Sibley-Ocheyedan (Iowa), junior
A three-time cross country all-Conference honoree and North Dakota Class 2A runner-up in 2021, Brouwer has plenty of speed to back it up. She's the school-record holder in the 800-meter race, winning the Class 2A state championship in the event last year and qualifying for the 2022 Drake Relays. She also is adept at shorter distances, finishing fourth in the 400-meter race at the 2A state championships last year.
2 - Sydnee Serck
Yankton, junior
Serck has placed at the South Dakota state track meet every year since her seventh-grade season. She is a three-time placer in the 3,200-meter relay race, including two runner-up finishes. She's also a two-time state placer in the 1,600-meter relay race, including a first-place finish in 2021. Serck has set three school records for the Gazelles, and has a personal best of 2:18.46 in the 800-meter race.
3 - Libby Castelli
O'Gorman, freshman
Just a freshman, Castelli is already a part of numerous all-time South Dakota record charts. This year, she was a part of the sixth-fastest 3,200-meter relay team in state history with a total time of 9:17.24. Individually, she ran the 12th-fastest 3,200-meter in South Dakota history with a time of 10:54.5. This season, she's run South Dakota's second-fastest times in both the 800-meter race (2:16.76) and the 1,600-meter race (5:00.96).
4 - Erin Palmer
Century (North Dakota), senior
Palmer is a multi-sport athlete and two-time all-American swimmer for Century in North Dakota, but has plenty of track accolades, too. She's a six-time North Dakota state champion in track and field and ran the fourth-fastest 800-meter time in state history with a time of 2:12.63. She is also a three-time all-state performer in Cross Country.
5 - Alea Hardie
O'Gorman, senior
Hardie was teammates with Castelli in the 3,200-meter relay team that had the sixth-fastest time in South Dakota history, but her individual accomplishments jump out even more. She posted a 800-meter time of 2:13.9, and her 1,600-meter was the second-best time in state history, finishing the race in just 4:53.11. She's a two-time South Dakota Sports Awards winner for Runner of the Year and was the Gatorade Player of the Year during this year's cross-country season. She is committed to run track and cross country at Nebraska.
6 - Reese Luze
Colman-Egan, junior
Luze owns nearly every available distance record in Colman-Egan history, holding school-best times in the 800-meter race, the mile race and the two-mile race. She helped lead Colman-Egan to a Class B state champion finish last season by anchoring the first-place 3,200-meter relay team, the second-place 1,600 relay team and, individually, placed in the 300-meter hurdles.
7 - Berkeley Engelland
Mount Vernon/Plankinton, sophomore
Even as just a sophomore, Engelland has dominated short-distance runs throughout her career. This year, she's run the fastest 400-meter and 800-meter times in the state and placed second and fourth in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, respectively. She helped MVP finish third at the state meet last year, the co-op's first top-three finish in its history.
8 - Grace Drietz
Canby (Minnesota), senior
Drietz captured two state championships last year, finishing with the top time in both the 800-meter race and the 1,600-meter race at the Minnesota state meet a year ago. Drietz is committed to run track and cross country at South Dakota State.
Alternate: Ruth Pardy, O'Gorman, sophomore
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Howard Wood Dakota Relays: Girls 800-meter special event field
