SFC's Velgersdyk, Warriors' Schmidt each win 3 events

Finally - a perfect day for a track meet.

Competitors took advantage of the warm sun and slight breeze to topple 15 records during Saturday's running of the Elmer Hansen Warrior Invitational at Howard Wood Field.

Among those records were a couple of South Dakota all-time top ten marks, set by runners who already are on the hallowed list.

Watertown claimed titles in both boys and girls 'A' division, while Beresford's girls and the Lennox boys took 'B' titles.

Brittany Page of Watertown ran a 24.62 seconds in the 200 meters to record the fourth best mark in state history. She also holds the second-fastest time in 24.48 set in 2005.

The other "top ten" mark was recorded by Allison Eckert of Roosevelt in the 1,600 run with a time of 5:00.87, the 10th best all-time. She has also run the third best time on record, a 4:53.57 in 2005.

Page set three meet records to share the Girls 'A' Most Valuable award with Washington's Jenna Schmidt.

Page won the 100 (12.06), 200 (24.62) and the 400 (57.81).

Schmidt also won a triple crown, going 17-33/8 in the long jump, 5-1 in the high jump and 37-41/4 in the triple jump. Then she helped her 400 relay team to a second-place finish.

The Girls 'B' MVP was Alyssa Henrichs of Beresford, who won the discus in 124-10 and the shot put in 37-3/8.

In the boys division, Scott Jorgensen of Brookings was the 'A' Most Valuable with wins in the 200 (22:59) and the long jump (22-111/4), plus a second-place finish in the 400 relay.

The 'B' Boys MVP was Sioux Falls Christian's Brady Velgersdyk, who claimed a triple crown in the dashes, winning the 100 (11.0), the 200 (22.92) and the 400 (51.46).

Velgersdyk said he tried to make the 400 "his" race and to not let anyone take him out of his plan.

"I felt pretty good," he said, "although I maybe died out a little in the last 50 yards."

Page nearly broke the Watertown school record she is aiming for, an 11.8 set in 1989. Last week, she ran 11.9.

Brandon Valley's Greg Beesley was pretty confident coming into the meet, and that confidence paid off with a meet record 9:45 in the 3,200 meter run.

"I've been running real well and getting stronger," he said. "I had planned to stay with (Bill) Kogel (of Roosevelt), but when I saw he wasn't running, I had to make some moves that needed to be made."

The moves were successful, as he took off on the second lap and went on to record his best time ever.

"But I always try to go faster," he said. "A distance runner is never satisfied. Tomorrow I'll get up and say to myself, 'I could have run faster'."

He also anchored the winning medley relay team (with Michael Bellmore, Danny Kohler and Brady Smith) in a time of 3:46.68.

"We were going for the record," he said, "but I guess the two-mile kind of wore me down," even though he passed the leader about 150 meters into his leg, to win going away.