Rain falls – and so does a state record

Apple Valley’s Dwyne Smith Jr. runs historic 400 at Hamline Elite Meet

Most of the state high school all-time track and field records have something significant in common: good weather.

Warm temperatures and little wind usually translate to peak performances that threaten records. Apple Valley senior Dwyne Smith Jr. didn’t have that going for him when he toed the starting line for the boys 400 meters at the Hamline Elite Meet on April 26.

“It was cold and windy, but at least it wasn’t raining,” Apple Valley boys head coach Zack Roble said. “Then it started to rain just before the 400 and I thought, OK, let’s at least get a personal record.”

Smith did better than that. He won easily against some of the best athletes in the state, finishing 1.58 seconds ahead of the runner-up. What’s more, his time of 46.93 seconds broke an all-time state record that dated to 2007. The previous record of 47.18 was held by Quinn Evans of Mounds View. The all-time record in the 400 has been lowered only twice in the last 31 years.

Smith’s mark in the 400 is the fifth all-time state high school track and field record broken by South Suburban Conference athletes since the 2022 season. Last year Rosemount’s Hayden Bills set records in boys shot put and discus, and a Lakeville North team broke the record in the boys 4x800-meter relay. In 2022 Ava Cinnamo of Rosemount broke the all-time record in the girls triple jump.

Roble said Smith didn’t seem thrown off by the lousy weather at Hamline University. “When you see the entry list and the qualifying times, and it’s some of the top guys in the state, that’s going to get you ready to compete,” Roble said.

The Hamline Elite Meet brings together many of the state’s top performers from the early part of the season, who are invited based on times and distances they have posted. Qualifiers are not divided based on enrollment, so it’s possible to see athletes from each of Minnesota’s three classes competing in the same Elite Meet event.

Smith added a victory in the 200 meters in 22.00 seconds and was second to Juriad Hughes of Irondale in the 100, finishing in 10.64. Smith’s season best in the 200 is 21.80, which ranks first in the state. He’s currently ranked second to Hughes in the 100.

Smith even had an impact on a Hamline race he didn’t run. Earlier in the season he ran a leg on the Apple Valley 4x400 team, and its time was fast enough to earn an Elite Meet invitation. Smith was not going to run the relay at Hamline, but teammates Tylan Ward, Abdalle Ahmed, Nati Tizazu and Kaine Larocque got a chance to compete and finished eighth in 3 minutes, 31.18 seconds.

“We went up to Dwyne and said, ‘You know, if you run a 4x4 you could help some of your teammates get to Hamline,’ ” Roble said. “He didn’t hesitate.”

Athletes can run a maximum of three track events – individual, relays or a combination – during meets. Putting Smith on a relay might make that group a state medal contender, but Roble said the Eagles’ thinking at the moment is to let him run the individual 100, 200 and 400 in the postseason because it’s his senior year.

Smith’s best race has been the 400. As a sophomore he took second to Farmington’s Ramy Ayoub at the state Class 3A finals. Last year, after a slow start because of an injury, he took third in the 400. The defending Class 3A 400-meter champion is St. Paul Central senior Harlow Tong, who did not compete at the Elite Meet.

Smith, who also runs a number of indoor meets in the winter, came into the outdoor season in a good place physically and mentally, Roble said. “We don’t have to push him hard to get in shape because he’s already in shape,” the coach said. “He wants to have a really good senior year.”

Apple Valley athletes haven’t made a big mark at the Elite Meet in recent years, which is something Roble and his coaching staff are looking to change. Roble, who’s in his second year as the Eagles’ head coach, competed in track and field at Rosemount High School. Rosemount has won two of the last three state boys large-school team championships and is the model for what Apple Valley is trying to accomplish.

“Coach (Jay) Hatleli (Rosemount’s head coach) is the best of the best,” Roble said. “He gets kids to come out, and his teams are always balanced.”

There’s been a coordinated effort at Apple Valley to steer boys who aren’t in another spring sport to the track and field team. Roble also is an assistant football coach at the school, and Apple Valley head football coach Pete Usset is a track assistant. A soccer assistant coach also works with the track program. The cross-promotion seems to be working as 115 boys are in the track program this spring.

“The saying among coaches is there’s a good track team at every high school. It’s just a matter of getting them to come out,” Roble said. “Apple Valley has nearly 2,000 students, so there are plenty of good kids.

“A lot of the coaches work in the building, so we see the kids in the halls. We tell them, if you’re not in another spring sport, we can get you faster. We can help you jump higher and farther.”

Two other Apple Valley sprinters competed in the Hamline Elite meet. Ninth-grader Tyson Johnson was 16th in the boys 100 preliminaries in 11.46, and senior Zharia Arnold finished 18th in the girls 100 preliminaries in 13.00.

The next day, Apple Valley sent teams to the Lakeville North Mega Meet. Smith had the day off, but the boys finished sixth of 12 teams. Apple Valley also placed sixth in the girls meet. Eagles sophomore Quieris Barnslater had a victory in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing in 16.08. The Apple Valley girls 4x100 relay team of Leah Rudashevsky, Lydia Vonderhaar, Arnold and Kya Myers took first in 1:50.48. Myers also finished second in the 200.

More from the Elite Meet

• Burnsville sent four athletes to the Hamline Elite Meet, and the Blaze’s top finisher was sophomore Carley LaMotte, who finished third in the girls 1,600 meters in a personal-record 4 minutes, 58.24 seconds.

Madison Malecha finished fourth in the girls high jump, clearing 5 feet, 2 inches. Albert Ongwenyi ran the boys 400 meters and placed sixth in 49.87. Caleb Kamara finished 14th in the boys 100 preliminaries in 11.13.

• Eagan sophomore Noah Daniel finished eighth in the boys 800 in 1:58.99, a season best. The Wildcats’ Geneva Rasmussen was 10th in the girls triple jump with 34-4.

• Three Farmington athletes finished in the top eight at the Elite Meet. Ninth-grader Lauren Lansing was runner-up in the girls 800 in 2:21.78, senior Mariah Fenske took sixth in the girls 1,600 in 5:03.15 and junior McKenzie Donlan placed seventh in the boys 400 in 49.89. All three times were personal records.

Jada Henrikson, a sophomore, was 12th in the shot put with 34-1. Winning the event was another South Suburban Conference thrower, Trinity Wilson of Lakeville North.

• Rosemount senior Andrew Schultz finished sixth in the boys 3,200 with a personal-record time of 9:19.39.