By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — When Beresford’s Andrew Atwood surged on the second lap of the Class A 800-meter run, Tri-State senior Kaleb Foltz didn’t panic but gave chase. 

Foltz passed Atwood entering the home stretch then held on for the win (1:56.13). Foltz was awarded the gold medal, having the fastest time among all three classes.

“He (Atwood) kind of surprised me, I’m not going to lie,” Foltz said. “He came into that second lap hot and for a second I didn’t think I was going to be able to catch him.”

The return to the top of the podium comes after a one-year hiatus from state championships. 

In 2022, Foltz won Class B state titles in the 800-meter run (1:59.73), anchored Tri-State’s sprint medley team to a state title and used a ferocious kick to slip past Bison sophomore Lane Krautschun (4:35.01) to win the 1,600-meter run. 

Tri-State moved up to Class A last season and facing stiffer competition, Foltz finished fourth in the 800-meter run (1:56.47) and sixth in the 1,600-meter run (4:26). Foltz said it was that step up in competition that helped him improve as a runner. 

“The move to Class A was huge,” Foltz said. “The level of competition in the Class A distance events is a whole different level. Going from Class B and having to start all over in Class A was hard but I’ve gotten to be good friends with a lot of those kids.”

Foltz left his mark on the South Dakota track landscape on May 16 when he posted a time of 1:52.24, the fifth fastest 800-meter run in South Dakota history.

“I didn’t know I had gone that fast,” Foltz said. “I was laying on the ground and my coach told me the time and I popped right up because I was so excited.”

While Foltz was working on his own events this season he also took a turn running to help qualify several Tri-State relay teams. 

“We have a lot of talented youngsters and I loved being involved in those relays and being a senior mentor to those kids,” he said.

Foltz has two more events to run before he hangs up his spikes for Tri-State. Foltz had the third fastest qualifying time in the 400-meter preliminaries Friday. On Saturday, Foltz will also contest the 1,600-meter run where he has the seventh fastest seed time (4:27.13) and run in the 400-meter run finals.