By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Six weeks ago Platte-Geddes junior Lee Reiser stepped into the shot put ring with the mindset of just getting better. With a personal best of 37-5 coming into the season, Reiser wasn’t thrilled when he reached 40-9 in his first outdoor meet of the season. 

“I was a little disappointed with that because I was hoping to throw 43-feet,” he said. 

That personal best didn’t last long as Reiser reached 44-9 at his second meet of the season. 

“That was big for me and I think that’s where things started to click,” he said. 

With some bad patches of weather this spring Reiser didn’t have a track meet for a few weeks but after hitting 47-feet with regularity in practice he knew bigger throws were coming. 

One of Reiser’s goals this season was to throw far enough to make the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in the shot put. 

“I ended up being just a few inches short and when I didn’t make it that was a real motivator and it fueled me to go even harder,” he said. 

On May 7, Reiser tossed the 12-pound implement 49-8 then followed that up with a 49-2 at the next meet. 

Having started the season in the top-50 of Class B’s top shot putters, Reiser suddenly found himself in the top-five. 

On May 13, Reiser knew he was going to see Brenden Begeman of Herreid/Selby, the No. 2 thrower in Class B with a season’s best of 51-feet. 

“I looked at the standings coming in and knew he was ahead of me,” Reiser said. “We were about the same in our practice throws and that gave me a lot of confidence.” 

That confidence helped Reiser shatter the 50-foot barrier as he became the Class B shot put leader with a heave of 51-7.5. 

Reiser’s ascension among the best shot putters in Class B may come as a surprise for those that follow the event. Platte-Geddes coach Matt Maxon said Reiser’s development has come as a result of hard work. 

“You will not find a harder worker kid in South Dakota than him,” Maxon said. “We get back from a meet at 8:30 p.m. at night and he takes my key and spends several hours lifting.” 

Platte-Geddes has three track and field coaches, none of whom are experts in the throwing events. Maxon said he watches videos and offers some critiques but noted that Reiser and teammate Jack Ringling watch their own throwing videos and implement what they see into their workouts. 

“Sometimes I look up and they are doing new drills that they’ve seen on their phones,” Maxon said. “A lot of Lee’s improvements come from little tweaks that he’s seeing in videos and then slight adjustments to his footwork and hip position during a throw.” 

Reiser’s main goal this season was to break Caden Foxley’s school record of 45-feet. With that mark well in his rear view mirror the junior turns his attention to the regional and state meets.