IHS Boys and Girls champs at home meet

It was another remarkable day for the 2021 Tiger thinclads, even without Mobridge-Pollock in the mix. Ipswich indeed proved that to be true here last Saturday at the Ipswich Tiger Relays.

The IHS Tigers swept the meet, topping runner-up Roncalli 109 to 97 in the girls' outcome and the Tiger boys followed suite by overwhelming Stanley County 152 to 85. There were around 15 teams at the meet, despite the less than desirable weather earlier in the week. But for the most part it wasn't all that windy for a change and the sun made a welcomed appearance as well.

Girls first! Ipswich was able to obtain three event champions and its overall team depth to help stave off Roncalli. Ashley Ptacek captured two of those events, the 200-meter dash in :28.70 and the 400-meter dash in 1:06.19. The Lady Tigers' other championship was produced by Marley Guthmiller in the high jump at 4-7.

Coach Todd Thorson was understandably impressed with the Ipswich results: "It was a good day for the TIGERS! We saw personal bests all day long. With no wind, 46 degrees felt like near 60 in SD. The boys' 4x1 tied the school record - Dylan Owens, Carson Gohl, Matt Hettich and Ty Kadlec (:44.94)." And that same foursome in that order won the 4x200 relay in 1:34.23!

The Ipswich boys also tacked on a medley relay win in 4:00.25 consisting of Owens, Gohl, Kadlec and Maxwell Kulesa. Tiger boys' relay efforts also included a second-place finish in the 3200-meter event at 9:58.28 and they were also second in the 4x400 in 3:45.25, as well.

Thorson said that the boys relay teams each ran really well that afternoon and that the girls' 4x800, 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams all ran their fastest times of the year. They were rewarded with a second in the 4x100 in :54.97 and second in the 4x200 at 1:57.70.

Some multiple event placements also helped boost Ipswich's final score, according to Thorson. He explained "Zach Geditz and Eric Severson had some really nice throws in discus and went first (139-1) and third (137-8) there." And that was true on the girls' side, where for instance Ipswich had four placers in the pole vault, led by Quincy Olivier's second-place height of 7-3. Katelyn Geditz added a second in the discus competition at 86-11 and was also in the hunt eventually finishing third in the shot put (31-7.5), according to Thorson.

Josh McQuarie ended up as Ipswich's top individual boys' placer that day, matching Ptacek's pair of girls' wins. He indeed won the 110-meter hurdles in :17.25 and the high jump at 5-5. And for good measure he was second in the triple-jump event at 37-6.5. Meanwhile, Dylan Wald also contributed a second-place effort in the 3,200-meter run, clocked at 11:50.02, as did Tyler Hettich in the high jump fray measured at 5-5.

"There were many more good performances by the Tigers, but the highlight without a doubt was the weather," Thorson concluded. "The boys and girls teams both won the meet, so hopefully we use this meet as a confidence builder heading into May."

There are the Howard Wood Relays later this week, followed by a Eureka meet on May 4.

Other Tiger placements not previously mentioned:

GIRLS

300-Meter Hurdles: 6, Marley Guthmiller, :57.23.

100-Meter Dash: 6, Trinity Reynolds, :14.32.

200-Meter Dash: 3, Vanesa Diaz, :28.83.

800-Meter Run: 6, Madisyn Gellhaus, 2:45.21.

3,200-Meter Run: 8, Gracyn Kadlec, 13:36.16.

High Jump: 6, Jaydin Styles, 3-11.

Long Jump: 7, Katie Bierman, 12-4.

Triple Jump: 6, Katie Bierman, 25-0.

Pole Vault: 4, Kaitlyn Williams, 6-9; 5, Marley Guthmiller, 6-9; 8, Reaghan Bowers, 5-9.

1,600-Meter Relay: 6, Ipswich, 4:58.71.

3,200-Meter Relay: 3, Ipswich, 11:03.80.

BOYS

300-Meter Hurdles: 3, Josh McQuarie, :45.14.

100-Meter Dash: 5, Matthew Hettich, :11.76.

1,600-Meter Run: 7, Dylan Wald, 5:25.07.

3,200-Meter Run: 3, Xavier Kadlec, 11:52.99; 5, Taylor Thorson, 12:24.76.

400-Meter Relay: 3, Ipswich II, :49.00.

Shot Put: 4, Zach Geditz, 42-2.25; 6, Lucas Rowland, 39-4.

Discus: 8, Jordan Nierman, 106-7.

Long Jump: 4, Tyler Hettich, 18-3.5; 8, Trevor Heinz, 17-2.

Triple Jump: 3, Colby Sylte, 36-8.

Pole Vault: 7, Darrel Yost, 8-3; 8, Rasmus Loken, 7-9.