STATE TRACK: MEMORABLE THREE DAYS FOR THE FLYERS
Freeman Public brings home 10 medals — and school records — from Sioux Falls
Amy Sorensen, head track coach for the Freeman Public girls, was by the triple jump and had just watched freshman Cadence Hofer qualify for the finals when she took off for the track a short walk away for the Flyers’ next event.
“I’m going to watch the girls 4×100 break the school record,” said Sorensen, wide-eyed and sizzling with energy. “I think they’re going to do it.”
Not five minutes later they did — a “just another day in the office” moment for a track team that was firing on all cylinders and indicative of what was largely a very good showing at the three-day 2024 SDHSAA State Track and Field Championships held in Sioux Falls May 23, 24 and 25.
“It was an incredible day,” said Sorensen, who was the first one to greet the 4×100 relay team of Zenovia Butler, Rylee Peters, Vaida Ammann and Makenzie Scharberg after Thursday’s 51.75 clocking that put them in Saturday’s final, where they would go on to break their record yet again and finish third overall. “Yesterday in practice, this morning on the way up here, the energy getting ready, everybody knew where they had to be and what they had to do, and they got it done.”
While Sorensen was speaking in the context of Thursday’s effort — and while there were a few stumbles in the days that followed — she was equally enthusiastic the day after it was all said and done, as the Flyers assembled at their home track to put away what was left of the season.
“What they did — the heads that they turned — was truly incredible,” she said. “Highs and lows? Yes. But as coaches we couldn’t be prouder of how it turned out.”
Freeman Public brought home a salty 10 medals from this year’s competition, six of which came in the boys and girls relays.
The Flyers’ best efforts individually came from senior Rocky Ammann, who finished second in the pole vault and tied the school record of 12-9 set by Troy Wallman in 1987. Ammann’s PR came with high pressure on his third and final attempt after two misses at the opening height of 10-9.
“We only got two run-throughs, so I was a little rusty at the beginning,” Ammann said. “I knew I had to get that third one and it went better after that.”
As for the school record, “it’s been on my mind the entire year,” he said.
The Flyers also saw another outstanding individual performance from freshman Rylee Peters, who finished third in the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles and behind only two seniors in both races— Menno’s Ashton Massey and Burke’s Piper Hansen.
It was rebirth of sorts for the sophomore-to-be, who had to overcome some adversity this season and dial in her focus.
“Mid-season, kind of after Howard Wood, I started to struggle mentally a little bit,” said Peters, who was third in both hurdles as a seventh grader and second in both last year. “I had a lot of people to shake off this year, which is good for me, and once I started to refocus, things started feeling better.”
Peters said going into the 100 hurdles first thing Saturday felt like her old self, which carried over to the 300 hurdles later in the day — a race she would run in 46.56, breaking her own school record she had set earlier in the season.
“This morning I felt really good; I was really locked in,” she said. “I tried to take the pressure off myself, because I knew there shouldn’t be. I was happy this morning — I was ready and like, ‘Let’s just do this.’”
The Flyers also saw an individual medal from another freshman, Cadence Hofer, who went into the triple jump ninth with her sights set on making the finals — which she did in dramatic fashion. After scratching on her first attempt and turning in a sub-par effort on her second, Hofer uncorked a 33-5 on her third jump. While it fell just short of her incoming best of 33-6, it was good enough to get her in the finals, and she ended up sixth overall.
“I’m so happy — I’m so happy,” said Hofer, who said she felt good after her first attempt even though she scratched but wasn’t happy with her second effort that fell far short of what she was capable of. “I was upset because I worked so hard, and here I am in front of all these people, and I know I’m better than that.”
No surprise she was beaming afterward.
“It felt so good,” Hofer said. “Makes me feel like I can do it in other events, too.”
The relays
For Freeman Public, the record-setting effort from the girls 4×100 relay team in both Thursday’s prelim and Saturday’s final, when they finished third overall, was a highlight. The foursome had previously tied the school record of 52.06 set in 2009 by Allison Wynia, Kristina Nash, Carli Lager and Taylor Waltner, but wanted it all to themselves.
“That was our one goal before I left — to get that record,” said Zenovia Butler, who graduated from Freeman High School on May 11 and was taking part in her last official event as a Flyer. “I’m just very happy and proud that we got to do it here. I was crying earlier because I was filled with so much joy, just breaking the record and getting to do it with my friends. It was amazing.”
Butler and company broke the record they shared with the 2009 relay team twice last week thanks to a 51.75 in the prelim and a 51.24 in the final.
“To get a school record in one relay three times over, and two of those times happened to be two days in a row at state?” Sorensen said. “It’s truly incredible what they accomplished.”
Like their counterparts, the Freeman Public boys burned up the track in the 4×100 prelim on Thursday as Luke Peters, Tate Sorensen, Chris Aasen and Rocky Ammann clocked a 44.66 — the second-fastest time of the day behind Ipswich’s 44.10. The Flyers ended up second in Saturday afternoon’s final.
The runner-up showing was largely redemptive following a low point of this year’s state meet for the Flyers that occurred earlier in the day — a dropped baton on the last exchange in the 4×200 final, a race they believed they would win and instead finished seventh.
“Our hearts broke for them,” said Sorensen, speaking also on behalf of coaches Michael Freeman and Jenny Peters. “It happens, but you can’t let that weigh you down for the rest of the day. In that moment you can’t take away the hurt, so we let them breathe, we gave them time, and then we brought them together.”
Sorensen said for the boys to respond with a strong second-place showing in the 4×100 — and then to PR in the 4×400 and finish sixth — speaks to their character.
“They have a lot to be proud of,” she said.
The same is true of the girls 4×200 relay team of Butler, Peyton McCune, Ammann and Scharberg and the 4×400 relay team of Hofer, Peters, Ammann and Butler. Both also set PRs and finished sixth in all of Class B.
“State track is always the goal,” Sorensen said. “To get there is absolutely huge and to place is even bigger. That’s what we work hard for. Incredible job by the Flyers.”
Other events
The Flyers were represented in other events that did not place, and several that came with some disappointment.
Sophomore Tate Sorensen, seventh going in, missed the finals in the 400 by just 0.07 seconds, and that one of the eight finalists scratched on Saturday didn’t help ease the letdown.
Senior Jorgen Baer, who tied for eighth in the pole vault as a sophomore and tied for sixth last year, failed to clear the opening height, as did junior Talon Pitchford, who was competing in his first-ever state meet.
In addition to her role as the anchor carry on the Flyers’ two sprint relays, Scharberg also competed in the open 100 and the long jump, Hofer was also represented in the long jump and 300 hurdles, and Butler ran in the open 100, as well.
Other boys competing in Sioux Falls last week included Peters in the 200, Baer in the triple jump, Braydan Mangel in the 800, Lane McCune in the 1600 and 3200 — he PR’d in both — and the boys sprint medley relay of Brody Sorensen, Aasen, Luke Miller and Mangel. All of this bodes well for the future.
Sorensen said while this year’s three seniors will be missed, the Flyers are just getting started — especially with a strong group of seventh and eighth graders coming up to join in the fun.
“We can’t wait for next year,” she said.
