After 9 relay wins at Howard Wood, Sioux Falls Christian track and field eyes 2 state titles

Michael McCleary, Sioux Falls Argus Leader

May 12, 2022 at 1:23 PM·4 min read

Sioux Falls Christian's Ellie Maddox receives the baton from a teammate during the Howard Wood Dakota Relays on Friday, May 6, 2022, in Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls Christian track and field runner Eli Gillett was changing his shirt in the team tent when he saw all his teammates line up on the fence. The Chargers' team tent was set up right behind the finish line, so Gillett and others congregated around the fence in the far right corner of Howard Wood Field to get a better look at their teammates' last strides toward history.

The Chargers' Ellie Maddox, a Class A cross-country champion in the fall, was anchoring Sioux Falls Christian's final leg of the 4x800-meter relay Friday at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays. As she turned the final 100-meter, the team was more than on pace: It was headed for a Howard Wood meet record.

"I took a picture of it, actually," Gillett said. "It just it made me proud to see how supportive each and every one of these athletes are to each other. That was really fun to see. "

Track and field: Multiple Howard Wood Dakota Relays and state records fall on thrilling first day

Maddox crossed the line for Sioux Falls Christian at 9:30.02, more than five seconds better than the previous Howard Wood Dakota Relays record, which was set in 2017 by Luverne high school.

Sioux Falls Christian cheers up on the fence at Howard Wood Field as the girls 4x800-meter relay team breaks the school record on Friday, May 2, 2022.

It wouldn't be the last time the Chargers found themselves atop the podium. Sioux Falls Christian took first place in nine of 10 possible relays at Howard Wood Friday and Saturday, finishing as a runner-up in just the Class A girls 4x200-meter relay.

Coming off a huge performance in the biggest meet of the season, an experienced, defending state-champion boys team and a young, pleasantly surprising girls team are finishing the season with some of their best performances. Ahead of the state meet in a few weekends, momentum is building for the Chargers to contend for the Class A sweep, by possibly repeating as title-winners for the boys and winning its first girls state title since 2014.

"That would be really fun," Sioux Falls Christian runner Isaac Davelaar said. "To say the least."

Sioux Falls Christian's 4x800 relay team smiles after getting their medals for winning the Class B race at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays on Friday, May 6, 2022, in Sioux Falls.

Howard Wood Dakota Relays success — with all the emphasis put on relays — doesn't always translate directly to state-meet success, but even before the Chargers' strong showing Friday and Saturday, a pair of potential state-champions were emerging. The boys roster is coming off a state-record 99.66 team score to win the state championship a season ago by nearly 50 points. The girls team finished third at the state meet last year, but graduated a few athletes from that team.

Track and field: More broken records, individual dominance highlight Howard Wood Dakota Relays day 2

Chargers' track program build on 'Three C's'

The Chargers did have a few additions, though. Anna Vyn, a ninth-grader, moved to Sioux Falls from Texas and provided an immediate boost to the Chargers' distance-running. But Vyn wasn't kept to just distance. Sioux Falls Christian head coach Luke Vander Leest said the program is built upon "three C's," the second one of which is "community."

In a school of 400 students, Vander Leest said 117 of them are out for the track team. That gives the team depth. And options. Some of the relay teams that the Chargers used during the Howard Wood Dakota Relays were ones they had not yet used before, Sioux Falls Christian short-distance runner Isaiah Young said.

"Just the quality that we have, gives us a lot of good options," Vyn said. "It's a good problem to have."

Sioux Falls Christian's Isaiah Young sprints to the finish line in the 4x100 relay race at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays on Saturday, May 7, 2022, in Sioux Falls.

More: Howard Wood Dakota Relays day 2 results

Davelaar said that the Chargers tend to take a three-week approach to workouts, starting with longer distances and scaling back toward sprints as meet time approached, so as soon as Sioux Falls Christian finished the Dakota Relays, the state meet was right in that range.

Maddox said the times that the Chargers have posted have painted a positive picture: the school records they broke last weekend in the 4x800-meter and the 1600-meter medley were set in a state-championship 2014 season. On both the boys and the girls side, Sioux Falls Christian will have plenty of options. And it could lead to multiple honors.

"I think we've like we're looking at times and are like, 'Man,'" Maddox said. "We're realizing if we can just go and have a good day and let all the training that we've done show, I think I think it could be possible."

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls Christian track and field eyes two state titles

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Chargers' track program build on 'Three C's'

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