SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Mitchell’s throwing duo of Logan Bessler and Bryer Stach capped the South Dakota State Track and Field Championships with a pair of podium finishes Saturday in the Class AA boys shot put at Howard Wood Field.
Bessler, a senior, placed sixth with a throw of 51 feet, 7 inches, while Stach, a junior, finished eighth at 49 feet, 8.25 inches.
Bessler delivered one of the meet’s biggest surprises. Entering competition as the No. 11 seed, he launched a personal-best throw nearly 2 feet beyond his previous season best of 49-9.75.
The shot put points added to a productive weekend for Stach, who earned five points with a fourth-place finish in the discus on Friday. Together, the two throwers accounted for nine of Mitchell’s 12 team points in the boys competition.
Mitchell finished 15th among 20 teams in the Class AA boys standings with 12 points. Sioux Falls Lincoln captured the team championship with 178 points, followed by Brandon Valley with 115 and Harrisburg with 78.5.
The Kernels picked up their final points in the meet’s last event, the 4×400-meter relay. The quartet of Sam Mullenmeister, Samari Wright, Landon Johnson and Adam Kampshoff placed seventh in 3 minutes, 30.75 seconds. Sioux Falls Lincoln won the race in 3:20.27.
On the girls side, Mitchell finished 20th in the Class AA standings with two points. Those points came from Audrey Miller’s seventh-place finish in the triple jump on Thursday.
Several other Kernels posted solid performances during the three-day meet. Hunter Patton narrowly missed the podium in the boys 3,200-meter run, finishing 11th in 9:30.23. Bessler added a 13th-place finish in the discus at 142-9.
For the Mitchell girls, Ryan Keys placed 13th in the 400-meter preliminaries in 1:00.27, while seventh-grader Kynslee Tronnes finished 15th in the 800-meter run at 2:23.97. McKenna Auch took 16th in the 300-meter hurdles in 48.66 seconds.
In the field events, Taylor DeJong was 13th in the shot put at 35-9.25 and 17th in the discus at 103-10. Madilyn Janis placed 15th in the javelin with a throw of 109-10.