It’s been 20 years and Justin Horn still fondly remembers the 2003 state track and field meet. 

After all, he did single-handedly win the Class B boys state track and field championship for Tripp-Delmont. 

At the 2003 state meet in Rapid City, Horn was the only member of the Wildcats’ squad and still etched his name in South Dakota sports history lore. He recorded three first-place finishes and one runner-up finish to win the team state championship by himself. 

“It feels amazing that there’s not many people ever to have done this,” Horn said. “I am very, very fortunate to have been that person. I know all that I did to get there and things had to go my way as well in order for me to win. I’ve always been grateful for that weekend because it’s an historic thing that I will never forget.”

How historic? 

It’s just the second instance in South Dakota history an individual boy won the state track and field team championship. Onida’s “Smokey” Joe Mendel accomplished the same feat in 1926, winning four individual events to edge Sioux Falls Washington, 20-19. 

Horn achieved it 77 years later and no one has done it since. 

“It feels really surreal all the time that it was me that did that and I was able to do something wonderful,” Horn said. 

Historic weekend

Memories of the historic weekend aren’t foggy for Horn, who now resides in New Ulm, Minnesota and works as a manufacturing engineer for 3M. 

Horn can still rattle off his times, marks, key competitors and anecdotes about that weekend all these years later. He won the triple jump (41-11), long jump (21-6.5) and 200-meter dash (:22.92), and finished second in the 100-meter dash (:11.25).

It added up to 38 points, finishing ahead of second-place James Valley Christian (33) and three other teams were less than 10 points off the pace. 

“It feels great to have done it,” Horn said. “It was a multitude of things that came together. The rest of the teams had to spread out. So there weren't many high scoring teams. So it was fortunate that 38 points would win the state title.”

Tripp-Delmont's Justin Horn, center, single-handedly won the 2003 Class B boys state track and field championship. (South Dakota Public Broadcasting Photo)

Not even the track and field prognosticators saw it coming. A pre-meet segment on a Sioux Falls TV station predicted team champions for each class, based on seed times and marks. Tripp-Delmont, ahem Justin Horn, was projected to finish fifth in Class B.

“Coming into the state track meet, I guess I was ranked fifth for the team title by myself,” Horn said. “So one of my friends called and told me that it's funny that you might be fifth overall by yourself. Because I was the only one from my school to go there.” 

Horn was an outstanding overall athlete and also starred in football and basketball. The Wildcats won the 2002 Class 9B state football championship and Horn was named the Joe Robbie MVP.

After the basketball season, Horn immediately began training for the track and field season. He closely followed the individual track and field leaders in his four events during the season.

“I was wanting to win all four events that I was in and I knew who the best runners were in all those events going into the weekend,” Horn said. 

The stars aligned for Horn to accomplish the rare feat. The state championship bid received a couple fortuitous swings during the season and at state. White Lake speedster Tyler Koch was one of Horn’s main competitors in the sprinting events, but a pulled hamstring halted his season. 

On Friday at state, Horn won the triple jump and he benefited from White Lake’s Colte Haines scratching on all three jumps in the prelims. Haines won the 2002 triple jump state championship.

“He potentially would have beaten me, and I would have gotten second in the triple jump,” Horn said. “So I got lucky to get first.”

On Saturday, Horn’s state championship quest continued with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash. James Valley Christian’s Troy Wipf (:11.14) clipped Horn (:11.25) for the win. 

It was then back to the jumping pits and this time Haines was in the finals. However, Horn’s jump of 21-6.5 was enough to beat Haines (21-1.75) 

“He jumped similar to what his best was for the season and I outdid my best,” Horn said. “I jumped the best jump I ever jumped in my life that weekend.” 

The first-place finish put Horn up to 28 points and chatter began to circulate around O’Harra Stadium about Horn’s possible feat. 

“When it was getting down to the end of the day, people were coming up to me from other teams all excited that Tripp-Delmont is in first place,” Horn said. “That was the first time I thought about it was when these random people I didn’t know were all excited. They ran up and were all excited I could win the state title.”  

Horn (:22.92) nipped Wipf (:23.07) for the 200-meter dash state championship. It added up to his 38 points as he topped the entire 64-team field. 

Horn wasn’t overcome with emotions and instead “I was more so just happy that I won the title,” he said. “It was a great coincidence that all this hard work resulted in this fortunate event, that I won the state title.” 

Horn’s parents — Kerry and Peggy — made the trek to Rapid City for the state meet. Horn’s brother, Jared, and sister, Amanda, were also there for the special moment. 

“They were very, very happy obviously and it was a big deal to them,” Horn said. “It was a lot of fun to celebrate it with them.”

Horn returned to tiny Tripp the next day and received little fanfare. A family friend hung a congratulatory banner on the Horn's garage door and he later went to a local watering hole. 

“We went up to the local bar and two people were sitting at the bar,” Horn said. “They were like ‘Hey, good job. That’s pretty cool.’ ”

'Never going to forget it' 

Horn’s feat, however, didn’t go unnoticed and he garnered national attention for it. 

He was highlighted in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd, a weekly feature highlighting outstanding individual performances around the country. 

Horn attended South Dakota State University, where he ran track for a year and played football for a few seasons. In college and nowadays, Horn would get approached by people about the accomplishment.  

“It has happened a little bit where people have heard of me, or who have never heard it before and they think it’s pretty awesome,” Horn said. “I really appreciate when those kinds of things happen and it makes you feel a little special.”

Horn and his wife, Kelsey, have four children: Karis, Logan, Lincoln and Claire. Justin’s children stumbled upon a photo album of the 2003 state meet and a tote with their father’s medals in it. 

“The kids went through it one time and were like what’s all this,” Horn said. “So then you have to tell them about it.”

Horn, 38, tries to keep the feat low key these days. But the memories haven’t faded 20 years after the fact. 

“I am never going to forget it,” he said.