By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — Prior to the start of the 2024 track season, Sturgis senior Aidan Hedderman jotted down the goal of breaking the state record of :14.15 in the 110-meter hurdles. Secretly he hoped to become the first South Dakota athlete to break 14-flat.

On Saturday in his final 110-meter hurdles race in a Scooper uniform, Hedderman blasted out of the blocks, got over the first hurdle and steadily pulled away for a decisive victory. Hedderman waited for the clock to reveal both of his goals had been achieved with a :13.88.

“I knew I could do it but standing there and seeing it on the scoreboard was mind blowing,” he said. “I knew I could do it but I just needed to put together a full race. I was thinking about attacking the hurdles and staying as low as I could.”

Saturday’s state title in the 110-meter hurdles was Hedderman’s third consecutive at that distance. 

The state record Saturday morning was only the second act as Heddeman had himself one heck of a meet. When he was a freshman, the beginning hurdler was approached by the Sturgis pole vault coach who told him she thought he would be good at the event. 

Hedderman has been a regular over the 14-foot level in the pole vault this spring. On Thursday, on day one of the state meet, he cleared 15-1 to break the Sturgis pole vault record. 

“Being good in the pole vault and hurdles takes a lot of time because you have to work a lot on both of them,” he said. “On top of that you have to work on your sprint speed for both events. I give the coaches a lot of credit for working things around to allow this to happen.”

Early Saturday afternoon Hedderman broke down yet another barrier when he dipped under 40-seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. In one of the best finishes of the entire meet Hedderman (:39.49) outleaned Harrisburg’s Tate Larson (:39.40) to claim his third title of the weekend. 

“That was awesome,” Hedderman said. “Tate Larson ran a hell of a race and it was a battle to the finish and I just got him at the end. We’re going to be teammates at the University of South Dakota and that’s going to be awesome.”

Hedderman’s weekend wrapped up years of hard work with many moments surrounded by people he cares about deeply. 

“My goal was to break 15-feet in the pole vault and of course my big goal that I worked for all year was to set the state record in the hurdles,” he said. “My dad is my hurdles coach and he’s been a huge part of everything I’ve done. It feels awesome to be surrounded by such great people and great coaches.”