Mitchell Christian's Silas Holdeman caps impressive freshman season with Class B distance double
May 26—SIOUX FALLS — Mitchell Christian's Silas Holdeman followed a familiar formula to claim yet another state title at the Class B track and field championships on Saturday morning.
Similar to his 3,200-meter race on Friday, the freshman phenom established himself near the front of the pack in the 1,600-meter race, then waited for the right time to make a decisive move.
With a quarter to go, Holdeman took a hold of the lead and didn't look back. Dusting the rest of the field by a three-second margin, he won the race with a personal best of 4:29.36 to confirm his sweep of the distance events at Howard Wood Field.
Coming away with a pair of state titles on back-to-back days had the Golden Eagle standout dumbfounded.
"Twenty points, right? Just in two events? I don't know what to say to that. I'm surprised," Holdeman said.
The race started hot, with Holdeman following last year's 1,600 champion Colome's Joseph Laprath to a 60-second first-lap split.
"That was a little bit too fast I think," Holdemann said. "We started out strong and got into the rhythm."
The pace forced the rest of the field to pick it up, and by the end of the third lap, Philip's Wakely Burns, Freeman Academy/Marion's Finley McConniel and Northwestern's Lincoln Woodring had caught up to the front. But then it was just Holdeman who had the energy for a huge kick, taking off right as the bell sounded and running the final 400 meters in 64 seconds.
"That was my whole plan all along, to stick with Joseph," Holdeman said. "And then I just wanted to kick-it in that last lap ... I got an adrenaline rush."
Coming in second was Burns (4:32.95), while McConniel was third (4:32.97) and Woodring was fourth (4:34.76).
The win caps a remarkable freshman season for Holdeman, who also won the Class B state cross country championship last fall.
"I want to thank coach (Ryan) Chase and my teammates for helping me out this year, and pushing me to my limits," he said.
