Prep Track: Hamlin's Gracelyn Leiseth enjoys good start at Dan Lennon
VERMILLION — Hamlin senior Gracelyn Leiseth ended the 2022 South Dakota high school track and field season with a record-setting performance and attempted to do the same in her first meet of the 2023 season.
Leiseth won the state Class A girls' shot in last year's state meet by shattering her own all-time state record with a toss of 52 feet, 6.75 inches.
The record may not last long. Leiseth, who committed over the winter to the University of Florida, won the girls' shot put on Tuesday in the Dan Lennon Class B Indoor Invitational in Vermillion's DakotaDome with a toss of 52-6.5.
Dan Lennon Class B Results:https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23731397-dan-lennon-class-b?responsive=1&title=1
Athletes from Hamlin, Great Plains Lutheran and Arlington also placed in the meet.
In the girls division, Chloe Raw of Arlington (60-meter dash), Halle Bauer (1,600 run) and Catie Neumann (triple jump) of Great Plains Lutheran and Kami Wadsworth of Hamlin (shot put) each recorded second-place finishes. Marissa Bawdon of Hamlin placed eighth in the long jump.
In the boys division, RJ Perry of Great Plains Lutheran took fourth in the shot put and Luke Fraser of Hamlin sixth in the 400 dash. Fraser also teamed with Rylan Thue, Gavin Prouty and Troy Randall Jr. to place fifth in the 800 relay and eighth in the medley relay for the Chargers.
Northern State Open
ABERDEEN — Brea Sweet of Lisbon (N.D.) notched four first-place finishes Tuesday during the Northern State Open high school indoor track and field meet in the Barnett Center.
Twenty-one schools from South and North Dakota competed in the meet.
Sweet won the 200- and 400-meter dashes and the long jump in the girls division. She also ran on the winning 1,600 relay along with Kodi Lautt and Kendra and Brynley Dufferding.
Northern State Open Results:https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23731395-nsu-open?responsive=1&title=1
Lautt also won the 55 dash, Emma Muggli of Oakes (N.D.) the 55 hurdles and triple jump and Avery Miles of Hitchcock-Tulare the 800 and 1,600 runs in the girls division. Sofia Losure of Frederick Area (high jump), Camryn Rohlfs (long jump) and Ashlynn Sundquist of Sargent County, N.D. (shot put) also won events.
Brenden Begeman of Herreid-Selby Area won the 55 dash, shot put and long jump in the boys division. Jayden Munroe of Aberdeen Roncalli (200 dash and triple jump) and Kaleb Foltz of Tri-State (800 and 1,600 runs) each won two events.
Other event winners included Joseph Heim of Oakes, N.D. (400 dash), TJ Salmen of Hitchcock-Tulare (55 hurdles), Mike Nelson of Lisbon (pole vault) and Zeke Barnick of Edgeley-Kulm, N.D. (high jump). Frederick Area won the 1,600 relay with runners Jonathan Bretsch, Gavin Nickelson, Stephen Achen and Brayden Sumption.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Area athletes compete in indoor meets at Vermillion and Aberdeen.
