By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — For the past few years, Rapid City Stevens’ Simeon Birnbaum has looked at the distance records of 1973 Sioux Falls Lincoln graduate Jim Reinhart and dreamt of the day that he might challenge those records. 

Over the last two years Birnbaum has been steadily chipping away at Reinhart’s records, and reign as the best distance runner in South Dakota history. On Saturday at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays Birnbaum topped Reinhart’s meet record in the 1,600-meter run (4:09.74) when he crossed the line in 4 minutes, :4.05 seconds.

“I’ve always considered him the best distance runner in South Dakota and I’m trying to make the case for myself,” Birnbaum said. “I’ve heard a lot about him and read about him. I would love to connect with him and talk to him but we don’t know where he is or what he’s doing.” 

On Saturday, in front of an appreciative South Dakota crowd, Birnbaum ran 4:04.05 in windy conditions finishing over ten seconds ahead of second place finisher Quinn Roehl of Grand Forks, North Dakota (4:14.22). 

“The goal was to get the meet record and we weren’t planning on doing anything crazy,” he said. “I felt really good today, just smooth and I was trying to go out and enjoy my last Howard Wood.” 

High caliber athletes like Birnbaum always seem to get extra applause from the fans in attendance at big South Dakota meets. Those fans witnessed Birnbaum break the Howard Wood Dakota Relays record in Friday’s Special Event 800 meter run (1:50.37). Those same fans gave Birnbaum a standing ovation when his name was announced prior to Saturday’s race and when he received the gold medal following the 1,600-meter run. 

“I’ve raced in a lot of different venues but running in front of South Dakota fans is special to me,” he said. “The crowd was really awesome today and I wish they could all be closer to the track just to feed off their energy.” 

Birnbaum’s assault on Reinhart’s records started in April 2022 when he broke Reinhart’s 1,600 meter run record (4:06.31) when he won a mile-long race in Arcadia, California. Birnbaum later broke his own record when he ran a 3:59.51 to win the Brooks PR meet in Seattle, Washington.

In April 2023, Birnbaum won a 3,200-meter run in Arcadia, California where he won the race and broke the meet record (8:34.10).

Heading into the final few weeks of his senior season in South Dakota Birnbaum holds state records in the 800-meter run (1:50:12), 1,600 meter run (3:59.51 - 1 mile) and 3,200 meter run (8:34.10).

While Birbaum’s high school eligibility will soon run out, his impact on high-school distance running in South Dakota will have a sustained impact for years to come.  

Rapid City Stevens cross country and distance coach Jesse Coy joked about coaching a runner as talented as Birnbaum saying ‘I just try not to get in the way.’

He did say that Birmbaum is having a huge impact on the other runners at Rapid City Stevens.

“We just saw how he’s influencing other athletes when we watched Stevens runner Brionna Holso winning the 1,600 meter run and breaking five-minutes (4:57.70),” Coy said. “Some of our younger athletes see Simeon doing what he’s doing and they can see that running that fast is possible.” 

Following the conclusion of the South Dakota high school track season Birbaum will run in several national events where he will take aim at lowering his own 800-meter run and 1,600-meter run records. 

Birnbaum will run collegiately at the University of Oregon.