Spartans finish season strong at state

On Thursday, May 26, 2022, the WSHS Spartans left for Sioux Falls to participate in the State Track and Field Meet, with the new three-day schedule. The first to compete for the Spartans was the Class B girls 3200m relay at 12:30 p.m. Ashlyn Weber, Alyssa Grohs, Abby Kolousek, and Kerstynn Heim ran 10:47.61. They finished 20th overall. The boys 3200m relay ran a season PR crossing the finish line in 8:42.47 to capture the 8th place medal. Members of the 8th place squad were AJ Neely, Porter Walz, Mason Schelske, and Sam Poncelow.

Avery Orth and the rest of the Class B girls reported to the shot put ring around 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Avery was in the third flight. On her first of three attempts, she sent the shot out there, but she couldn’t keep her momentum in the ring and unfortunately stepped out of the front of the ring to scratch the throw. On her second attempt, she gave it another great toss and it landed 36’ 5”. Her third attempt went 33’ 9.75”. That second toss moved her into finals, to get three more attempts. Her first throw in finals landed 33’ 7”. The second attempt went 36’ 4.75” and the third attempt was a scratch. Congratulations to Avery Orth for placing 7th in the Class B girls shot put at the 2022 State Track & Field Meet.

The final action for the Spartans on the first day was back on the track for the boys medley prelims at 5:50pm. Mason Schelske, Brock Krueger, Carter Grohs, and AJ Neely combined a time of 3:55.35 for a new season PR. They didn’t make the finals and finished 18th overall.

On Friday morning, Porter Walz and the rest of the Class B boys stepped onto the track for the 3200m run. Porter’s time was 11:17.58 and he finished 21st. Later that afternoon, Alyssa Grohs ran the 800m run at 4:05pm. Alyssa’s time was 2:33.4, a season PR that put her 18th among the field. The last event for the Spartans on the second day of the action was the prelim for the boys’ mile relay at 7:05 p.m. Relay members were AJ Neely, Mason Schelske, Karter Mebius, and Sam Poncelow. The foursome put together a season best run with a time of 3:42.13, which put them 10th overall, just outside the top eight that would make the finals.

On the final day of track and field action, we had Alyssa Grohs in the girls’ mile run and Sam Poncelow in the boys’ mile run right after Alyssa. Alyssa’s time was 5:56.12 for 20th overall and Sam’s time of 5:02.53 was 23rd overall.

Although Mother Nature was fierce this spring and canceled most of our track meets, I want to commend the kids for showing up and working hard at practice day in and day out. I want to give the senior boys, Carter Grohs, AJ Neely, Mason Schelske, Porter Walz, and Kaden Wolter a special shout out. Thank you for your leadership this season and commitment to our sport. Carter, Mason, and Kaden met the criteria set forth by the SDHSTFCA and were named to the Academic All-State.

Other kids that participated and performed well at the state meet, who have family ties to Wessington Springs were Gunnar Cuka of West Central, son of Jennifer (Grabin); Molli Thornton of West Central, daughter of Tom Thornton; Connor Christensen, of Tri-Valley, son of Dawn and Shane Christensen; Landon Bertram son of Jen (Fischer) Bertram and Aleise Christopherson daughter of Dustin and Susan (Krueger) Christopherson both of Pierre; and Payton Cuppy of Tea great granddaughter of Darleen Cuppy.

Gunnar placed 8th in Class A boys’ long jump and was 15th in triple jump. Molli was 4th in class A triple jump, member of the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relays, and she won the class A long jump. Connor won the class A boys shot put. Landen and Aleise were members of relays and Aleise was 19th in class AA long jump and 13th in triple jump. Payton was a member of the Class A girls 4x100 and 4x200 relays. The 4x100 placed 7th.