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Twelve athletes from Wagner’s track and field teams made their way to Sioux Falls this past week to compete in the state meet at Howard Wood Field.

At many track meets this past year Wagner would usually (though not always) have a champion in the 300 hurdles and a champion in the high jump. Often times that will not continue once you get to the state meet. This year, however, it would.

Jhett Breen came in with the top seed time in the 300 hurdles for class A and would win the first of three preliminary heats to assure himself a spot in the finals. As the gun fired to start Saturday’s final Jhett got out to his customary strong start, leading the pack and clearing the first two hurdles with ease. The third hurdle would rock him a bit but he steadied himself and forged on, but with some competitors closing in. As he barreled down the homestretch with Wagner family and friends cheering him on, the look on his face said he was not going to be denied. And he wasn’t as he crossed the finish line with a time of 39.83, edging out the second-place runner from Rapid City Christian by almost two tenths of a second. This was a fitting end to Jhett’s track career as this was something he had his sights set on throughout the year. That, and setting the school record, which, oddly, he would have to do twice. Congratulations, Jhett! You 100% earned it. As a side note, this would be the first time a Wagner athlete would win an event on the track at the state meet since Jessica Koupal claimed the 100-hurdle title back in 2010.

The other athlete that would come in at the top of her field was Ashlyn Koupal in the high jump. Ashlyn had gone 5’ 7” this year and would hope to accomplish that mark and maybe more at this year’s meet. Of course, this was not new territory for Ashlyn as she had won this event the previous three years. People would be gunning to knock her from the top. She would enter the event at 4’ 10” and would clear that height as did many others. At 5’ 2” there were 14 athletes left, but that height would be too much for many of the contestants as only five would clear that height.

Ashlyn would watch the four other competitors fail to make their first attempt at 5’ 4”. When her turn came, she calmly sailed cleanly over the bar. The other four competitors would try a second time and would come up empty. They would all try again a third time with the same results. And that sealed a fourth consecutive state title for Ashlyn. No small feat to be sure. Not quite as dramatic as some of her other state meets, but no less satisfying.

The bar was then raised up to 5’ 7” in an attempt to best the 5’ 6” mark set by Brandon Valley’s Jayaunna Stroh and win the meet’s gold medal, but it wasn’t to be. Nonetheless, it is quite an accomplishment to win an event four years in a row. Not many can say that they’ve done that. Congratulations Ashlyn! Well done.

Unfortunately, no other Wagner competitors were able to place in the top eight at this meet but suffice it to say that they all gave their best efforts and did what they could.

Karstyn Lhotak would vault 11’ 9” which would tie him for 10th place overall. This was the same height as 8th place, but he would have fewer misses at the previous heights than Karstyn.

Macy Koupal would throw the discus 94’ 0”, placing 22nd.

Javian Pesicka would long jump 19’ 9 ¾” and throw the javelin 135’ 3”. He would be 15th and 14th in those events, respectively.

Caleb Zephier competed in the triple jump and would leap 39’ 0” which was the 20th best mark.

Kya Kjeldgaard tossed the javelin 94’ 0”, good for the 15th best toss.

Shea Kjeldgaard gave it his all in the high jump but failed to clear the opening height of 5’ 9”. Shea’s top jump of the year was 5’ 10”. To make an opening height one inch below your best of the year is a tough ask, but Shea certainly gave it a good effort.

Along with the high jump, Ashlyn Koupal also competed in the shot put, tossing it 31’ 6 ¾”, the 22nd best throw. Not too bad for an event she just picked up three weeks ago.

Two boy’s relays earned their way to the state meet. The 4x100 relay consisting of Jhett Breen, Gannon Knebel, Javian Pesicka, and Jackson Rolston ran a 46.26 which was the 23rd best time.

The 4x200 relay was made up of Jackson Rolston, Gannon Knebel, Jhett Breen, and Riley Roberts. They ran this in a time of 1:37.48, good enough for the 18th best spot.

As a coaching staff, we were very happy with the way these kids gave it their all, at this meet and others. It does take time and dedication and all of them did what they could. We would like to say thank you to all of our track and field athletes this year, whether you made the state meet or not. It was a pleasure to coach all of you. Thank you for your efforts and we hope to see you back out next year.