Byline: Deb Smith
May 3--The 83rd edition of the Howard Wood Relays starts Friday afternoon in Sioux Falls with the college men's hammer throw and ends on Saturday night with the high school boys' 1,600-meter relay.
More than 3,000 middle school, high school, college and university athletes will participate in the two-day meet, which started back on May 4, 1923.
The field events start Friday at 1:30 p.m. The high school events contested on Friday are the girls' high jump, pole vault and shot put along with the boys' long jump.
The running schedule on the first day starts at 1 p.m. with preliminaries in the sprints and some relays.
A special event, the boys' 200-meter dash, is slated for 8:25 p.m. It is an event by invitation only and includes six South Dakota sprinters and two from Minnesota. The entries are Andrew Johnson of Rapid City Central, Corbin Kratovil of Bennett County, Jarrett Klinger of Pierre, Chas DeMers of Winner, Jerrell Hancock of Anoka, Minn., George Dudley of Hopkins, Minn., Brock Bills of Sioux Falls Roosevelt and Tyrel Kool of Yankton.
Klinger was named the outstanding athlete at an indoor track and field meet earlier this season at the Barnett Center. He is currently ranked first in Class AA in the 100-meter dash (10.79 seconds) and the 200 dash (:22.47).
Activity begins early on Saturday at Howard Wood Field. The action begins at 8 a.m. and the final event is slated for 9:10 p.m.
The special event for girls will be an 800-run at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday. Leola-Frederick's Mikayla Barondeau is one of the eight invited athletes from four states.
Other runners are Jessica Engel of Sturgis; Olivia Johnson of Okoboji, Iowa; Krista Eckert of Sioux Falls Roosevelt; Laura Roesler of Fargo, N.D.; Allison Eckert of Sioux Falls Roosevelt; Nikki Swenson of Lac Qui Parle Valley (Dawson-Boyd, Minn.); and Amy Reuter of Brookings.
'I'm really excited,' said Barondeau, a junior. 'I watched one (special event) two years ago and thought it would be really neat, but I didn't think I would actually be in it.'
This week, Barondeau holds the fastest time in Class A in the 1,600-meter run at 5:33.34 and the second fastest 800 run at 2:25.71.
'I prefer the 800. It's not too long but not too short. The 400 is too fast and the mile is getting long. The 800 is right in between and I like it,' said Barondeau, who has been doing more biking and pool workouts this spring because of problems with tendonitis.
Several of the Class AA runners rank among the state's leaders in the 800 including Allison Eckert with a 2:16.0 and Krista Eckert at 2:18.86. Reuter has posted a time of 2:20.9 in the 800 run.
'I hope to get a personal best time,' said Barondeau, who ran a 2:22 last year at state. 'It will definitely be a challenge.'
To follow the meet online, log on to the Web site www.dakotarelays.com.
ATHLETE NUMBERS INCREASE NATIONALLY: The number of high school boys and girls participating in athletics has increased nationally and reached record numbers.
In its annual participation survey the National Federation of State High School Associations reported that the number of athletes in sports rose for the 17th consecutive year in 2005-06. Nationally, more than 7 million people are involved in high school sports.
The number of female athletes (2,953,355) set an all-time record and the number of males (4,367,442) is the second highest ever.
The sports that grew in numbers the most in that year were competitive cheer for girls and 11-man football for boys. South Dakota added competitive cheer and dance as interscholastic sports for the 2007-08 season and several schools including Aberdeen Central will field teams beginning in the fall.
According to the number of schools offering them, the top three most popular sports for girls and boys are basically the same: basketball, outdoor track and field, and baseball/softball. The fourth most offered sports were football for boys and volleyball for girls.
In the total number of players, 11-man football led the way for boys with more than 1 million. The top sport for girls was basketball with 450,000.
In addition to cheer and dance, another sport that has been on the rise is soccer. It ranks sixth on a list of the most offered sport for girls and seventh for boys. In the number of athletes, soccer is the fifth highest for both girls and boys.
--Sports writer Deb Smith and NFHS News
BROOKINGS SELECTS BOYS' BASKETBALL COACH: Travis Engebretson has been named the head boys' basketball coach at Brookings High School.
A graduate of Huron University, Engebretson takes over from Gary Thomas who was named to a vice-principal job at Brookings. Engebretson, who served as the Bobcat sophomore or junior varsity coach the last nine seasons, played baseball and football at Huron University.
Engebretson credits his college coach Fred Paulson and the Brookings coaches for teaching him coaching lessons. He plans to build the Bobcat program beginning at the middle school level.
Tim Lease, who was the head boys' basketball coach at Onamia, Minn., was added to the basketball staff. Engebretson will maintain his football and track coaching duties.
--Sports writer Deb Smith
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