By Rich Winter

605 Sports

The Wolsey-Wessington High School boys sprint medley relay team made history at the 2023 Howard Wood Dakota Relays, winning the first-ever boys relay title in school history.  

The quartet of Joey Hoverson, Keegan Haider, Moshe Richmond and Caleb Richmond clocked in at 3-minutes and :39.92 seconds, shattering the school record of 3:46.70 set at the Class B state meet last May. 

The Howard Wood Dakota Relays sprint medley relay title was the first in boys track at Wolsey-Wessington - Courtesy photo

“At first I didn’t know we set a record and then I thought we broke our record by one second,” Moshe Richmond said. “When coach LIndy Uttecht told me the time I kinda freaked out a little. We were talking after the race about how good a team we have and how this race is ours to lose at the state meet.”

Hoverson and Haider are both seniors while Moshe Richmond is a sophomore and Caleb Richmond a freshman. 

“In that race I thought Joey and Keegan did what they needed to do,” Uttecht said. “Moshe ran a good quarter and we clocked Caleb in the 1:58 or 1:59 range for his 800-meter anchor carry.” 

Caleb Richmond, a freshman, anchored Wolsey-Wessington to a sprint medley relay title at the 2023 Howard Wood Dakota Relays - Trey Kaul/605 Sports
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Moshe said he got the baton in about fourth or fifth place, passed one guy before handing off to his younger brother.

Caleb Richmond described the last 50 meters of his anchor carry as ‘Terrible.’

“I worked pretty hard the first lap to catch up to those guys,” Caleb Richmond said. “Down the stretch they started speeding up and tried to give it my all but my legs were dead at the end.” 

Wolsey-Wessington nearly won the 1,600-meter relay at Howard Wood as the foursome of Caleb Richmond, Moshe Richmond, Julius Pagels and Hoverson ran a 3:30.66 and were nipped at the line by Deubrook Area (3:30.51).

The Warbirds Howard Wood Dakota Relays 1,600-meter relay time slashed almost three seconds off the previous school record. 

The Wolsey-Wessington 1,600 meter relay, anchored by Joey Hoverson has Class B's second fastest time, trailing only Deubrook Area - Trey Kaul / 605 Sports

Both brothers admit track isn’t their favorite sport. Moshe Richmond, a 6-foot-3 and 195 pounder, says his favorite sport is football. Caleb Richmond, a 6-feet and 155 pounder, says his favorite sport switches between football and basketball depending on the sport that is in season. 

Moshe Richmond said in previous years he went out for track to have fun and hang out with his friends but admits having a different outlook this spring. 

“Somehow it feels like this season is kind of different,” he said. “We always did it for fun and now it feels like we have the opportunity to win a couple of events.” 

Earlier this season coach Uttecht put Moshe in the 3,200-meter relay where he split 2:08 for the 800-meters, his first time running the event. 

Richmond jokingly laughed about that first 800-meter carry wishing his coach would take him out of the event. He ran in that relay again at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays where the team of Caleb, Moshe, Edwyn Reyes and Julius Pagels set yet another Wolsey-Wessington school record (8:31.84) in finishing in sixth place.

Moshe Richmond has high jumped 6-2 this season, fourth best in Class B. 

“Moshe is pretty versatile,” Uttecht said. “He’s run in every relay, he high jumped and at the 281 Conference meet he long jumped because he thought he could help the team that way.” 

The Howard Wood Dakota Relays was a coming out party for the Wolsey-Wessington boys team. Coach Uttecht spent some time after that meet, putting the Howard Wood performances in perspective. 

“We had a great weekend and brought home some Howard Wood Dakota Relays medals,” she said. “Both our boys and girls teams improved their times but this is not our peak time and our boys especially have the opportunity to do extremely well and maybe bring home a team trophy of some kind from the state meet.”