Records tumble as South Dakota's top athletes converge at state track and field meet

May 28—SIOUX FALLS — Alea Hardie came to win, not to set a record.

She did both, anyway.

Hardie, a senior track and cross country athlete at Sioux Falls O'Gorman, left Friday's session of the Class AA state track meet with the new record, timing 10 minutes and 24.42 seconds in the girls 3,200-meter run.

"I just kinda went out a little bit conservative," Hardie said. "I know my goal was just to win it for sure and then any other records were a bonus on top of that."

Hardie's time ended a 17-year-old all-class meet record, topping Sioux Falls Roosevelt's Allison Eckert's 2005 time of 10:38.66.

It's only the second time Hardie — a Nebraska track and cross country commit — ran a 3,200-meter race this year, but she credits her cross country experience for her ability to set a record by such a wide margin.

"I haven't raced it since freshman year, so I haven't had a lot of experience with it but it's worked out well so far," Hardie said. "I've always done cross country, so I've had that longer-distance training, and the mile has always been my favorite event and kind of my specialty, so having that in-between race is kinda right in my hot spot."

Hours after she set the 3,200-meter record, Hardie hit the track again in the Class AA girls 800-meter dash, topping a 2006 all-class record (also set by Eckert) by roughly 1.5 seconds with a time of 2:09.64.

Both of Hardie's times were the fastest across all girls in all classes at the meet, which are awarded the Gold Medal Award. She races again Saturday in the 1,600-meter dash.

Hardie wasn't the only athlete to put her name in the state track meet's history books.

Mount Vernon Plankinton sophomore Berkeley Engelland broke the Class A girls 800-meter dash record with a time of 2:12.88, pacing St. Thomas More's Haleigh Timmer's 2018 time by eight-tenths of a second.

"It feels good. I was hoping to get the all-class record, but it felt good to get that one too, especially on a day like today where I competed in different events," Engelland said.

Here's a look at other meet and class records set so far:

800-meter dash — All-class boys meet record

Rapid City Stevens' Simeon Birnbaum ran the second-fastest half-mile in South Dakota's history on Friday at 1:51.03, setting a meet record across all classes. Birnbaum's time topped Sturgis Brown's Jacob Simmons' 2015 time by 1.3 seconds.

Meet officials said Friday's 800-meter dash may have been the fastest overall of all-time in South Dakota, with all athletes in the final finishing in under 1:59. Birnbaum's time sits roughly half-of-a-second short of Jim Reinhart's record 1:50.5 for Sioux Falls Lincoln.

Boys long jump — All-class meet record

Aberdeen Central's Sam Rohlfs set the meet record Thursday across all classes with a long jump of 23 feet and 5.25 inches, edging a record held by three individuals since 1982, 1990 and 2007 by three-quarters-of-an-inch.

Girls discus throw — All-class meet record

Custer's Kellyn Kortemeyer broke the state's all-time discus record, throwing 165 feet and 11 inches. The meet record had stood since 1980 and belonged to Pierre's Karen McDonald, who threw 151 feet and 11 inches in 1980. McDonald also had the overall state record since 1979 at 163 feet.

4x800-meter relay — Class A girls record

Sioux Falls Christian and Custer both broke a 2016 Class A girls 4x800-meter relay record Friday previously held by Custer. Sioux Falls Christian placed first with a time of 9:21.54, followed by Custer in second with a time of 9:23.28.

3,200-meter run — Class A boys record

Belle Fourche's Sawyer Clarkson timed 9:24.35 in the Class A boys 3,200-meter run on Friday, pacing a 2021 record of 9:28.37 held by Sioux Falls Christian's Isaac Davelaar. Clarkson's time, which was 19 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, was the fastest among all boys in all classes at the meet.

400-meter dash — Class AA boys record

Brandon Valley's Julian Watson dashed 400 meters in 48.06 seconds on Friday, eclipsing a Class AA boys record time of 48.39 seconds shared by Brandon Valley's Cam Holmes in 2013 and Sioux Falls Lincoln's Adam Belhaj in 2014.

Watson, who set the state's overall 400-meter record time earlier this year, competed in a preliminary heat and will compete in the 400-meter dash finals on Saturday.

4x100 relay — Class A girls record

West Central edged into the record book Thursday with a Class A girls 4x100-meter relay with a time of 49.04 seconds. The record was previously held by St. Thomas More's 2016 time of 49.19. The Trojans ran seven-tenths of a second faster than Ethan/Parkston in the preliminary races, and will compete again Saturday in finals.

This story will be updated as the meet progresses.