Despite the five-meter lead, Castle dove into his carry figuring he was going to have company during his leg.

“I knew there was a guy from St. Thomas that had run in the high 48s,” Castle said. “I thought he was on my tail the whole way so I was just trying to run like a bat out of hell and give the guys as big a gap as I could.”

Castle handed off to Hallman, a former Hanson High School standout, with the Jackrabbits in front with a 10-meter gap on the field. Hallman, the only senior from the quartet, only began running track as a sophomore in high school and was part of the 2021 Class B state championship team for the Beavers.

Hallman, who ran a :48.35 for 400 meters, maintained the 10-meter lead, giving Pierce a comfortable margin heading into the final leg of the relay. 

Pierce, who had previously run a :47.88 for the 400-meter run, kept extending the lead and had his eyes on the finish line and clock when he crossed the line with a time of 3:12.12.

“Honestly I was really pumped that I didn’t die at the end,” Pierce said. 

A few meters after crossing the finish line Pierce gave a fist pump but then held back his emotions to make sure the team had in fact broken the school record. 

“I crossed the line and I gave that fist pump and there was some relief,” he said. “I looked at the board to make sure it was a record and then went to find my teammates.” 

Hallman was also on the previous record setting relay (3:18.18) set in 2023 and said he was extremely proud of the younger athletes comprising the record-relay run. 

“It was really exciting to see a new group of guys come in and execute so well,” he said.

The team likely won’t run together again until the Summit League Championships schedule for Feb. 28-March 1. 

South Dakota State men’s track coach Rod DeHaven feels like the team can go faster at the conference meet. 

“I think we’ll get another chance at the conference championships,” DeHaven said. “There is a chance we could change the order a little bit. We have a lot of South Dakota kids on our roster and I think this record is a reflection of what coach Hanenberger is doing with his training.”