Apr. 2—MITCHELL — With a solid foundation in place, the Mitchell Christian High School track and field team is ready to take another step forward in 2025.
The Golden Eagles' track program took major strides under the leadership of former head coach Ryan Chase. However, he departed Mitchell Christian to become the new cross country and track and field coach at Dakota Wesleyan University last July. Now, former assistant coach Paul Wieczorek is in charge and is eager to advance the program even further.
"I just want to continue to see the success we had and just keep building on that," Wieczorek said. "Try to keep feeding into the program with some of the younger (athletes) and let them kind of see the success. Just try to keep the program strong and keep building on the foundation that's been laid over the last couple of years."
The Golden Eagles return a strong core, especially with runners, highlighted by multi-time state champion Silas Holdeman.
A sophomore, Holdeman cemented himself as one of the top long-distance runners in the state last season. He won both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter Class B state individual titles and was one of the top cross-country runners in 2024, coming in second place at the Class B state meet after missing first place by only .03 of a second.
Joining him is fellow sophomore Luke Mentele, also one of the top long-distance runners in Class B. At the state meet last season, Mentele finished top-15 in the 1,600-meter run and was top-10 in the 3,200-meter run. He also finished fourth at the Class B state cross country meet last year as well.
The Golden Eagles also bring back other letterwinners from last year including Hannah DeLine, Sydney McNutt, Sawyer Holdeman, Jason Baas and Joshua Brandt.
Wieczorek said this season will all be about not being complacent with the foundation that's already in place. He wants every athlete to consistently push themselves to improve.
"The key to the success is just trying to tell them to be the hardest worker," Wieczorek said. "Track's an individual sport too. It's a team sport, but you can still excel as an individual if you put in the work, you're dedicated, you persevere and you just push yourself and push each other to accomplish good things."
Mitchell Christian's outdoor season opener is April 8 at the Ethan/Parkston Early Bird meet. Wieczorek said he doesn't expect perfection in these first few weeks, but said these will be critical meets to determine where the athletes should be by season's end.
"I don't expect personal records, but it'll kind of set a standard for each of them," Wieczorek said. "Then we will try to work on them improving each meet and trying to see them get their PRs and their best performances by the end of the season. Then pulling together, encouraging each other when we are at the meets and cheering their teammates on."
