BV boys rise to top of ESD with nine title wins

The Lynx boys used speed, endurance, strength, vertical abilities and true grit to bring home the 2025 ESD Conference track and field title, while the Brandon Valley girls’ 10-year run at the top of the ESD came to an end by a mere 4.5 points.

The boys claimed first in nine events, which gave them the clear advantage over second-place Harrisburg, 165.5-144.5 and third-place Yankton, 93.5. The Lady Lynx finished 4.5 points shy of first-place Harrisburg, 159-154.5. The Pierre Governors earned 90 points to place third.

“It was a good day, and it was a tough day. We had lots of adversity,” shared BV head coach Troy Sturgeon. “They say that steel sharpens steel, and I think we saw a lot of it that day. We had a lot of different things, a lot of strange, unique things happen, and we had a lot of changes during the day with our relays and things.”

There was plenty of “good” that happened for the Lynx on Saturday. For starters, Landon Dulaney had a headline-making day on the Harrisburg track, where the senior speedster not only won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, but rose to No. 1 in South Dakota’s Class AA rankings, and set new school records in the process. He not only registered a personal best 10.43 in the 100, but that time established an all-time state

record. In the 200, he recorded a time of 21.32 for another personal best.

The state, ESD and school records are especially sweet for Dulaney, who battled injuries last season and this year.

“There’s not a more hard-working kid than Landon. He’s dedicated to rehab and getting back to his best, and he had that moment on Saturday

where he ran the 100, and he ran it faster than anybody in the history of South Dakota,” Sturgeon said.

The former record was 10.45.

“It was really exciting moment, because we knew as soon as we saw that he’d set the school record, so when we saw 10.43 come up, we knew that it was a new school record. Then I said to Justin (Mash

lan), as we were down by the finish line, ‘I think that’s close to the all-time record,’ so we started fumbling around trying to find out what it was. And when we found out, we were like a bunch of school kids jumping around going crazy for him, because we were so happy that he did that.”

Dulaney’s day didn’t end there. He ran a leg of the 4x100, which set a new ESD record, and then he went on to break the school record again in the 200. 

Dulaney was also selected as the MVP of the track division of the sport.

Austin Dowd also had a day in the javelin. The senior’s best sailed 177-9, moving him up to the No. 2 slot on in South Dakota Class AA rankings and established a new school record. Junior Cole Swenson’s 147-7 throw resulted in a sixth-place finish and places him at No. 23 in AA.

Dowd’s AA ranking and school record are especially sweet, since he just picked up the event this season.

Junior Mikah Peters put on the miles Saturday, all to benefit the team. His unselfish efforts earned him first in both the 1600 and 3200 runs.
“What was so special about Mikah’s performance is that he knew that this was a team competition. He wasn’t thinking about setting records himself that day. He was out there to do what was best for the team,” Sturgeon said.

Peters also ran a leg of BV’s first-place 1600-meter sprint medley and mile relays.

“That’s what a true team-first person does. He wasn’t worried about his personal accolades. He was trying to do what was best for the team so we could win a team title,” Sturgeon said.

South Dakota State-bound Wyatt Melcher, who was named the meet’s MVP for field events, rose to the top of the high jump and triple jump, and captured second in the long jump. 

Despite the adversity (unexpected injuries) the Lynx faced, Sturgeon said boys “never thought about ‘this is done’ or ‘we’re not going to keep fighting to win this team title.’ We had freshman kids step up and go into relays and we ended up winning ESD titles.”

It was a similar story in the girls’ competition.

“We had some minor injuries, so we kept kids out thinking about not getting them hurt before the state meet. But other kids stepped in and did awesome, incredible things,” Sturgeon said.

Unsung heroes, like Jayaunna Stroh kept the Lady in the hunt to win the team’s 11th consecutive ESD title. Sturgeon said the junior likely faces one of the toughest scheduled of any athlete in meets. All four of her events – the high jump, long and triple jumps and hurdles – are all within an hour.

“She did the high jump and then she runs over and does her long jump, and when she gets done with the long jump, then she has to go right over to triple jump. Then she’s in the middle of the triple jump, and she has to go run the hurdles. Then she gets done running hurdles and she has to go back and do finals of the triple jump,” Sturgeon said.

Stroh’s busy schedule, however, didn’t keep her from recording personal bests in the hurdles, the triple and long jumps. Combined, she won the triple jump and placed second in the 100 hurdles, long jump and high jump. 

“In my mind, she was the field MVP,” Sturgeon said. “Jay had incredible performances, and the awesome the things that she does in that short amount of time are amazing.” 

Sturgeon added that the girls 10-year run aa ESD champs is surely an accomplishment, but he said he’s never been prouder of the team than on Saturday, “Because they were in it right to the end. They were trying to find every point where we could find it, and they’re just a great group of kids to work with,” he said. “We had freshman kids that stepped in and did heroic things for the team, so it was definitely a day of ups and downs. At the end of the day, the boys getting first, the girls getting second, it turned out to be a special day.”

The Lynx head to the track at O’Gorman High School Thursday afternoon for the Last Chance Meet, which essentially is just that: The last chance to improve times or qualify for state, which is May 29-31 at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls.

ESD Conference Championships

Saturday, May 17 • Harrisburg

Girls’ team points: 1.) Harrisburg, 159; 2.) Brandon Valley, 154.5; 3.) Pierre, 90; 4.) Aberdeen Central, 85; 5,) Watertown, 82.5; 6.) Yankton, 60; 7.) Mitchell, 50.5; 8.) Tea Area, 40; 9.) Brookings, 30; 10.) Huron, 28.5.

Lady Lynx results

100: 12.) McKenzie Gjoraas, 13.07; 15.) Shaylee Arredondo, 13.14; 18.) Logan Walkes, 13.22. 200: 6.) Shelby Bergan, 25.86; 8.) Kyra Weiss, 26.04; 9.) Audrina Schmidt, 26.49. 400: 2.) Addison Scholten, 59.13; 3.) Kyra Weiss, 1:00.12; 14.) Hannah Schoenfelder, 1:08.02. 800: 2.) Sarah VanDeBerg, 2:16.58; 11.) Ellie Anders, 2:33.43. 1600: 3.) Sarah VanDeBerg, 5:15.56; 4.) Emma Tidemann, 5:17.17; 7.) Emily Curran, 5:32.78. 3200: 4.) Emma Tidemann, 11:34.75; 5.) Lily Rude, 11:40.52; 7.) Emily Curran, 11:52.55. 100 hurdles: 2.) Jayaunna Stroh, 15.27; 5.) Shelby Bergan, 15.71; 15.) Sam Stemwedel, 16.71. 300 hurdles: 2.) S. Bergan, 45.91; 17.) Lauren Johnson, 54.94. 4x100: 4.) BV (B. Goetzinger, L. Walkes, M. Matthies, A. Schmidt), 50.75. 4x200: 1.) BV (B. Goetzinger, M. Matthies, A. Schmidt, K. Weiss), 1:44.30. 4x400: 2.) BV (A. Scholten, S. VanDeBerg, S. Bergan, K. Weiss), 3:44.90.4x800: 2.) BV (A. Scholten, L. Rude, E. Anders, S. VanDeBerg), 9:40.12. 1600 sprint medley: 1.) BV (B. Goetzinger, A. Schmidt, M. Matthies, L. Rude), 4:19.36. Shot put: 9.) Kasey Johnson, 34-8; 11.) Julia Ask, 33-4.75; 24.) Libby Klein, 28-0.5. Javelin: 7.) L. Klein, 100-2; 12.) J. Ask, 92-6; 15.) Ellie VanLeur, 89-11. Long jump: 2.) Jayaunna Stroh, 17-6; 10.) Logan Walkes, 16-3.5; 13.) Kadance Coughlin, 16-0. High jump: 2.) J. Stroh, 5-2; 3.) Addison Hunsaid, 5-0; 8.) Riya Sheley, 5-0. Discus: 11.) J. Ask, 101-1; 17.) L. Klein, 89-8; 20.) K. Johnson, 83-0. Pole vault: 3.) Morgan Becker, 11-0; 8.) Daylia Thompson, 9-6; T11.) Morgan Dathe, 8-6.

Boys’ team points: 1.) Brandon Valley, 165.5; 2.) Harrisburg, 144.5; 3.) Yankton, 93.5; 4.) Aberdeen Central, 90.5; 5.) Pierre, 81; 6.) Brookings, 69; 7.) Mitchell, 58; 8.) Watertown, 55; 9.) Tea Area, 14; 10.) Huron, 9.

Lynx boys’ results

100: 1.) Landon Dulaney, 10.43; 19.) Darieon Smith Jr., 11.65; 23.) Mason Beck, 11.96. 200: 1.) Landon Dulaney, 21.32; 13.) Gak Mayen, 23.39; 17.) Gavin Johnson, 23.50. 400: 9.) Trevin Bussa, 53.63; 12.) Jaden Schmidt, 54.49; 23.) Ben Williams, 56.93. 800: 11.) Sam Mischke, 2:08.75; 12.) Marcus Munsch, 2:10.34; 16.) Quinntin Mischke, 2:11.28. 1600: 1.) Mikah Peters, 4:21.41; 6.) A. Selness, 4:34.31; 10.) Ethan Kyte, 4:41.43. 3200: 1.) Mikah Peters, 9:44.37; 4.) Asher Selness, 9:55.74; 7.) Ethan Kyte, 10:11.61. 110 hurdles: 4.) Miles Hunt, 15.41; 12.) Hayes Bortnem, 17.28; 17.) Cole Leary, 19.62. 300 hurdles: 2.) M. Hunt, 41.20; 15.) H. Bortnem, 45.37; 21.) C. Leary, 51.94. 4x100: 1.) BV (M. Hunt, L. Dulaney, T. Bussa, M. Mayen), 42.57. 4x200: 4.) BV (M. Mueller, G. Johnson, T. Bussa, M. Mayen), 1L33.03. 4x400: 7.) BV (M. Hunt, C. Christion, J. Schmidt, T. Bussa), 3:40.03, 4x800: 5.) BV (S. Mischke, B. Laber, Q. Mischke, M. Munsch), 8:43.78. 1600 sprint medley: 1.) BV (M. Mueller, L. Dulaney, C. Christion, M. Peters), 3:41.86. High jump: 1.) Wyatt Melcher, 6-1; 6.) Mach Mayen, 5-11; T10.) Chayce Hartman, 5-7. Discus: 5.) Caelan Seeley, 144-11; 9.) Madden Timmer, 139-8; 13.) Parker Coughlin, 131-9. Pole vault: 2.) Uriah Dixon, 14-0; 5.) Levi Veskrna, 13-0. Javelin: 1.) Austin Dowd, 177-9; 6.) Cole Swenson, 147-7; 12.) C. Seeley, 137-4. Shot put: 4.) Mekhi Zacher, 48-10.75; 11.) Madden Timmer, 45-4.5; 20.) Parker Coughlin, 41-2. Triple jump: 1.) W. Melcher, 45-0.25; 4.) Mach Mayen, 42-9.25; 5.) Kolton Welch, 42-1. Long jump: 2.) W. Melcher, 21-6.25; 9.) Caden Walkes, 20-2.5; 11.) C. Hartman, 19-6.25.