SIOUX FALLS — Miles Brekhus finally had his Howard Wood Dakota Relays moment. 

On May 3, the Rapid City Stevens distance runner finally stood atop the podium at the 100th annual Dakota Relays, winning the boys 1,600-meter run in four minutes and :12.48 seconds. 

For the senior, the first-place finish put away years of frustration and falling short at the prestigious event. Last season, he finished 28th in the 1,600-meter run and 35th in 2023. 

“I have come here the last three years and never gotten on the podium, and to win it, oh man, it’s a lot of fun,” Brekhus said. “... I always knew that someday I was going to have my day, and that was today.”

And he used a late kick to win the 1,600-meter run at Howard Wood Stadium. Bowman County’s Taylor Wanner led for most of the race, but Brekhus surged ahead in the final stages of the race.   

“It came up with 300 to go and it was just Taylor and I,” Brekhus said. “I had some left in me. I just saw him coming closer and I kicked it in.” 

Brekhus edged Wanner, who finished in 4:13.12, to win the elusive 1,600-meter run and capped off years of hard work for the moment. 

“I went into it with full belief I was going to win it, and I never had a doubt in my mind the entire race,” Brekhus said. 

It also continued a recent trend of Stevens runners performing well at the event. Former Stevens runner Simeon Birnbaum, a current University of Oregon distance ace, holds meet records in the 800-meter run (1:50.37) and 1,600-meter run (4:04.05) in 2023. 

Brekhus added another first-place finish for the Stevens runners on May 3. 

“I have had experience running with all those fast people in the past,” Brekhus said. “I saw how they did it. I saw how they prepared, and now that I am the man at Stevens, to be able to pull it off myself, it means the world.” 

Brekhus now has the best 1,600-meter time in all of South Dakota, holding a four-second lead over Sioux Falls Washington’s Cole Reilly (4:16.01). He also has the state’s best 800-meter run time in 1:55.70, and finished fourth in the boys Special Event 800-meter run at the Dakota Relays on May 2. 

Brekhus said the Howard Wood Dakota Relays performance sets him up for a nice finish for his senior season. 

“I came in with a seed time of 4:24,” Brekhus said. “I took 12 seconds off of that. So I think I know for sure I can be the top guy in the state, one of the top guys in the area and I think I can carry that confidence with me to other races.”

Brekhus will run next season at Division I Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, citing the academics, team, coach and the region for picking the Mountain Hawks. 

“It just met all the boxes for me,” Brekhus said.