By Matt Gade

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — With the AA West River Preview meet slated for this Friday at Sioux Park in Rapid City, these are just some of Rapid City Stevens top finishers from a season ago. 

Jack Day ‘running better than before,’ coming back from knee injury in search of gold in 110 hurdles 

Rapid City Stevens' Jack Day wins the boys 110 high hurdles during the Black Hills Classic track meet last season at Woodle Field in Sturgis. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

A day after finishing state runner-up in the 110-meter high hurdles, Rapid City Stevens’ Jack Day suffered a setback in his high school athletic career. 

The silver medalist tore his ACL, effectively ending his high school football career. But that hasn’t held back the Raider in his return to the track. 

Day still has high expectations for the season, looking for that Class A gold and breaking his own school record in the hurdles.

“I'm pretty motivated. This summer. I had a bad injury in my knee. Had surgery, and coming back, I'm running better than I was last year,” Day said. “Been running a lot of indoor meets and practices. I'm feeling good about this season.”

At last season’s state meet, Day took runner-up, posting a time of 14.76, just five hundredths of a second behind Yankton’s Cale Haselhorst’s 14.69.

Day’s best time a season ago was a 14.42 post at the Black Hills Classic. The second fastest time in South Dakota behind Madison’s Shane Veenhof’s 14.38.

Day said he’s been very mindful in ensuring he’s practicing at a high level, while also not risking injury. He said getting cleared at the end of January to return to practice was a sign of relief after eight long months of rehabilitation. 

“I couldn't train for hurdles for eight months after I had ACL, MCL and meniscus surgery. It sucked for eight months, but I got right back into it, and it felt great,” he said. “I have circulation, blood flow, things for my legs. 

“I make sure that I take the optimal rest time. I warmed up a little bit longer than everybody else. I make sure that my body's feeling good before I do anything active. I feel like I'm pushing myself good and not risking another injury.”

During a track dual on March 19, Day ran a 14.65 in the team’s first competition of the season.

Day said he wants to reach a sub-14 mark this season.

While Day also placed seventh in the 300 hurdles last season with a 41.91, the senior said he’s unsure how much he’ll do in the event this season because of the possible strain running the curve in the event. 

He said he’ll see how he’s feeling throughout the year.

Day said his rehab included pool exercises at the start, to work out, but to take stress off his knee. Then progressed into outside workouts, including jogging and jumping exercises with strength-building workouts as well.

“My physical therapist knows that I wanted to be a state champion this year and wanted to keep pushing for that. So he helped me push myself and not get re-injured, stay healthy, but he also pushed me to a limit where I was working as hard as I possibly could at that stage.”

As the season is just beginning, Day said he’s glad to be back.

“Now I'm ready to compete,” Day said. “The thing I was most excited for was just to get back out here and run hurdles.”

There is no downtime for Ava Holzwarth as the junior looks to defend long jump crown while  Raiders return all four 400-meter relay state record holders

Rapid City Stevens' Ava Holzwarth competes in the long jump during the second day of the South Dakota High School Track and Field Championships last season at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

A week after claiming the Class AA girls long jump title, running the third leg of the Raiders’ 4x100 meter All-Class gold winning relay team and taking sixth in the 100 meter dash, Holzwarth was on a soccer field scoring goals during the 36th annual Rushmore Cup.

This past fall, Holzwarth set a new school record in goals in a season with 43 for the Raiders soccer team that made it all the way to the Class AA semifinals, ending the team’s season at 15-1-1.

Despite her success on the soccer field, Holzwarth balances her two sports.

“I know that I need to transfer my workouts, different from soccer and track. They're definitely way different,” Holzwarth said. “Just trying to balance both practices. I know track and soccer, they both practice around the same time, so just knowing how to balance both the meets and the game practices.”

While club soccer is year-round, Holzwarth said once her high school soccer season ended, she was excited to start focusing more on track season.

Last year, the then-sophomore recorded the top all-class mark in the long jump and the third-best all-time with a 19-8 during the Crosstown Classic track meet on May 15.

At the state meet, Holzwarth won the Class AA long jump with a mark of 18-02.75. 

At the Black Hills Classic meet on May 10, Holzwarth, along with Maya Khachikian, Riley WIllet and Ella Bradeen broke the state record in the girls’ 400-meter relay with a time of 47.68.

The Raiders relay team won the All-Class gold at state with a mark of 47.84. And in the 100 meters, Holzwarth was sixth with a 12.38.

Holzwarth’s top mark in the 100 meters last season was 12.25.

Holzwarth said she just enjoys competing. 

“I think it's a good mixture of both,” Holzwarth said of competing in sprints and jumping. “I'm definitely busy during the meets. I never really have time to sit down. I think it's fun — just a good mixture of both of them.

“I think just with competing wise, I love the 4-x-1. It's one of my favorite events. I think just competing with the team is really great. And then obviously I love doing opens and stuff and really learning to push myself.”

While Holzwarth got dinged up in club soccer, the junior Raider said she’s excited for the track season, looking to not only defend her state title but also break personal bests and hopefully place in the 200-meter dash at state. 

“I'm feeling pretty good about myself,” she said. “I've been training throughout this off-season, so I'm feeling way stronger than I was last year. Battling through some injuries, just coming off from a concussion, actually, so just trying to get through those injuries to get back into track season.”

Future Jackrabbit, Ella Bradeen, is top returning AA 100 and 200 meter sprinter

Rapid City Stevens' Ella Bradeen runs the 100-meter dash during the Class AA finals race last season of the South Dakota High School Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

A year after finishing second in both AA girls’ 100 and 200 meter dashes, Rapid City Stevens’ Ella Bradeen wants to close out her senior campaign with an individual state championship.

Bradeen, the anchor leg of the Raiders’ 400-meter relay team, was a part of the team’s All-Class gold medal in the 4x100, recording a time of 47.84. 

But being edged out by Pierre’s Kali Ringstmeyer (11.8 to 12.04) in the 100 and (24.29 to 24.7) 200-meter dashes, Bradeen has put in the work to be this year’s top sprinter.

“I've just been lifting, and I run twice a week and lift three times a week, and I've just been doing that ever since,” Bradeen said. “Then this in season, I'll still train a little bit, but not as hard, just trying to get as much muscle and speed as I can.”

While Bradeen described last season as “stressful, but fun,” this season, the senior doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Bradeen said she wants to break the school record in the 400-meter dash and is trying the long jump for the first time.

“The 4x100 is so fun, I really want to focus on the 400 this year. Maybe I could see if I could break the school record. That's just a goal I have, is the school record, but I am starting long jump too,” Bradeen said. “I'm having a lot of fun with that, so hopefully that can be a main event too for me.”

“Ava (Holzwarth) definitely kind of pushed me into it, but it's definitely more a thing that I've always wanted to do, and I just never had put any marks in the sand,” Bradeen said. “So I went to BH, and my jump was really ugly, but I jumped 17-10. So I'm hoping maybe with a better landing, it’ll be better.”

Bradeen said that with all four members of the Raiders’ state record-holding 4x100-meter relay team returning, the biggest key to the girls’ success is their camaraderie and bonding off the track. 

While the girls work regularly on handoffs and compete against each other in workouts.

“I think it's so fun. I enjoy being able to really compete against my friends, especially when we're training like we're doing 300 workouts, we're all laughing and we're having fun,” Bradeen said. “And then as soon as we get on the line to run our 300s, we're all locked in, and we're pushing each other, and we're cheering each other on, and then as soon as we're done, we're back to laughing. 

“And I just think that's how it is when me and Ava compete against each other. We've never really had any strong feelings towards each other in a competitive way. And I think that's really a good thing, and I love that.”

Bradeen went unattached to compete at Black Hills State’s Myrle Hanson Open, where she competed in the long jump for the first time.

Back in December, Bradeen made it official, signing to run for South Dakota State University next year. Bradeen said she really enjoyed the coaching staff at SDSU, along with having many friends going to Brookings as well, and calling it far enough but not too far from home.

Bradeen said she’s really excited about her senior season and isn’t worried about anyone else’s expectations for her. 

“I don't care about that. I just care about what I can control,” she said. “I mean, the weather and other things can factor in, but I think just reminding myself to be relaxed. I just want to have fun this year and enjoy, and make sure everyone else is having fun too.”

The Raiders’ Sylvie Mortimer and Maya Khachikian are among AA’s top returning 100 hurdlers

Rapid City Stevens' Maya Khachikian, left, and Sylvie Mortimer compete in the 100 meter hurdle premlims during the first day of the South Dakota High School Track and Field Championships last season at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

All season long, Rapid City Stevens’ Sylvie Mortimer and Maya Khachikian would battle it out as some of the best 100 meter hurdlers in the state.

At last year’s state AA meet, the duo finished 3-4 in the event with Mortimer recording a 15.04 to Khachikian’s 15.11.

Aberdeen Central’s Mya Arampatzis took gold at 14.58 and Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Kenya Harris finished with silver, 14.74. While Harris graduated, junior Arampatzis is the state’s top returner with Mortimer and Khachikian 2-3.

Last season, Mortimer posted a personal best of 14.90. And the Raider senior isn’t content to just rest on last year’s success.

Mortimer, who was a part of the Rapid City Stevens girls’ undefeated and state championship tennis team, is excited to finish out her high school career on a high note. 

“It's definitely kind of surreal being a senior, also because of my tennis season and how good we did,” Mortimer said. “But for track, I’m just really excited to compete this year. Once again, I did a lot of off-season training, and think it's really going to pay off.

“I want to do better than I did last year. I think that it's ultimately me versus me, even though I am competing with other people. I think it's me versus my previous times. And, yeah, I just want to do better than I did last year.”

Mortimer said her conditioning has been a balance of strength training and running drills. Mortimer credited her off-season training last year to having had a strong impact on her third place finish in the 100 meter hurdles and an eighth place finish in the 300 meter hurdles (48.10).

“I think I want to break my 14.9, get below that this year, and then for 300 break 46,” Mortimer said.

Mortimer also credits her teammate, Raider junior Khachikian, for pushing her on a regular basis whether it’s practice or at meets. 

“It’s definitely back and forth. I'd say, yeah, just depends on who has maybe the best start,” Mortimer said. “But yeah, I think we push each other to be our best for sure.”

Khachikian said she really enjoys getting to train with Mortimer. Despite how competitive it may be on the track, she just has fun on a regular basis with Mortimer.

“It's probably the most fun,” Khachikian said of practices. “We just get to laugh and have fun at practice. We really do push each other to be, like, the best we can be. 

“And it's great to be able to practice with your top competitor. So, yeah, we can really just like, Be, like, it's a meet every day, and we can just push each other to be the best. And then there's Mya Arampatzis, who was first place last year, and we just know that she's our competitor, and she's also going to come back really strong.”

In their first competition of the season, on March 19, Khachikian edged out Mortimer in the 100-meter hurdles 15.66 to 15.72.

Despite who wins between the two, Khachikian said she and Mortimer are each other’s biggest supporters on the track.

“We have fun with it. Yeah. I mean, we're out there competing, but whoever wins — wins. It really doesn't matter to us who wins. Because if we're first and second, that's, that's great, and if we tie, that's also great. I mean, it really doesn't make much of a difference.”

Khachikian also runs the first leg of the Raiders’ state record-holding 400-meter relay team with Riley Willet, Ava Holzwarth and Ella Bradeen. An event she said she really enjoys not only because of the success the four have had, but also because of the camaraderie among the girls.

Khachikian, who set a personal best of 15.03 last season, said she doesn’t really have set time in mind for this year, but rather wants to just improve.

“I would also just like to have a really good mindset going into the year, so not necessarily my times, but just being strong in my mind and being able to really compete,” Khachikian said of getting better. “It’s really encouraging. My freshman year, I think I placed 15th, and then last year I placed fourth. So it's really encouraging to see that you can make such a big improvement. So I'm really excited for this year to see if I can also keep my place or even improve.”