By Matt Gade

605 Sports

HILL CITY — There hasn’t been a day that Hill City senior Dax Frandsen can’t remember that he wasn’t involved in playing sports along with his sisters, Andee and Daril. 

Now, as the set of triplets are finishing out their athletic careers, they’re doing it similarly to how they started. 

Together.

“We like to push each other, but we are very different. Even though we're all triplets, I do like theater and stuff, and neither of them does that. And so we're very much still individuals,” Andee said. “Even though we do kind of push each other, it's more like we've always been proud of each other in things that we're different and good at. I'm just really proud of my siblings and what they do, and it's just as good as if they run a good race, than if I do.”

All three of them are competing for the Rangers this spring on the track team, with each one having a very different favorite event, while Daril and Andee at least get to compete with each other on relays. 

Andee said her favorite event is the 300-meter hurdles. For Daril, it is the 800 meters, and for Dax, it’s the open 400.

“It's fun because we all, obviously, do sports, and we (Andee and I) both play basketball too, but we can't play basketball with our brother. But we also do different events, which I think just shows the variety of how we're all athletic, yet we can compete well in multiple different things,” Daril said.

Hill City's Daril Frandsen breaks to the inside while running the lead leg of the team's 3200-meter relay team during the Rapid City Track-O-Rama track meet on Thursday at O'Harra Stadium in Rapid City. (Matt Gade / 605 Sports)

All three played basketball for Hill City. Dax said basketball is his favorite sport, which includes being a part of the Rangers’ first-ever squad to qualify for the Class A state tournament his junior year in 2025. 

In addition to basketball, the trio was also members of the Rangers cross-country squad the past few years, but during their senior season, Daril wasn’t able to compete because of an injury. 

Andee, who isn’t a big fan of distance running, went out for cross country because of Daril. And almost didn’t this past fall because of Daril’s injury. But instead decided to run for her sister.

“She wrote on the back of her shoulder, ‘I do it for God, but I do it for a sister that inspires me,’ ” Daril said. “Because she runs hurdles, distance is more my thing, and I partially told my Achilles so I wasn't able to compete, and she originally didn't even want to do it. 

“She was just doing it to, like, hang out with me and her friends, and just to get faster in general and have more endurance for hurdles. But she went out and did it for me, and she was our first runner where I couldn't be, and she stepped up for that. I was really nice.”

“I was debating whether to do cross country or not,” Andee said. “I originally did it just because she was doing it, and then she got hurt and couldn't do it. So then every race, I just decided I needed to run for her.”

Dax said he was not only proud to see Andee run for Daril, but also that she continued to push herself and set personal bests throughout the season.

Now, as track season is underway, despite South Dakota’s sporadic weather trying to make the start of the season as hectic as possible, the trio is making their mark among the state’s leaderboards.

So far this season, Andee is currently sitting third in the Class A girls' 300-meter hurdles with a mark of 47.47 and is seventh in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.04. Andee is also a part of the Rangers' sixth-ranked 400-meter relay team and fourth-place 800-meter relay team. 

Hill City's Andee Frandsen competes in the 100 meter hurdles during the Rapid City Track-O-Rama track meet on Thursday at O'Harra Stadium in Rapid City. (Matt Gade / 605 Sports)

Daril is ninth in the 1,600-meter run (5:34.7) while also being a part of Hill City's fifth-ranked 3,200-meter relay team and a part of the 10th-ranked 1,600-meter relay, which Andee is also a part of.

“We all like doing different things and the same things at the same time,” Daril said. “We are competitive. Like, Me and Andee both run the 4x4. So sometimes they're like, ‘Oh, your sister ran faster,’ and we're competitive, but then again, we're also just like, doing it for each other. I'm just running for her. She beats me. Okay, I'll just beat her next time.”

Dax currently has the top mark in the open 400 with a 50.38. He is second in the 800 meters (2:01.73) behind teammate Tate Grabow (1:58.77). Dax is also a part of the Rangers' second-ranked 400-meter relay team, top-ranked 800-meter relay team, second-ranked 1,600-meter relay team and third-ranked sprint medley relay team.

“I want to put a lot of points on the board,” Dax said of competing at the state meet at the end of May. “I want to get our team up there as much as I can, and I want to see us all succeed as much as we can. At the state meet, will probably be open four, open eight, the medley and four by four or four by two, but coach’s got me in just about everything he needs.”

This year’s birthday might have a little extra meaning for the Frandsen trio, as they will celebrate their 19th birthday on the final day of the SDHSAA state meet, which runs May 28-30.

As of now, they each have separate plans following graduation, with all three looking at staying close by, going to college in Rapid City, but of course, in very different fields. 

But before their athletic careers come to a close, they’re enjoying getting to share the final season on the track.

“We've done this since we were, like, in Kindergarten, I don't know, it's been, like, our thing together, and we're all not going to compete in college,” Daril said. “But I think it's nice — just ending it with each other and knowing that, like we all did our best.”

“It’s gonna be different. But we're staying close,” Dax added. “We’ll still be a close family, no one's committing to anything that's far away, so it's nice.”