Brookings' Sackreiter stands on the podium in multiple sports

BROOKINGS – Kendis Sackreiter just capped off her junior year with two top-five finishes in throwing events at the State Track & Field Meet. She did that on the heels of a top-two finish in wrestling and is hoping that her senior year comes with some state titles.

Sackreiter has seen a lot of success in her high school career so far. As she entered the State Meet on May 28, she said she wanted to come in first in both the discus and the shot put. However, she would have to settle for second in the discus and third in the shot put.

Sackreiter said despite not reaching the goal of being the top thrower in discus and shot put, she was really happy with how her junior track & field season played out.

"I feel like, obviously, getting first was my goal, but I did get second and third," Sackreiter said. "It wasn't really what I wanted, but I felt like going into state, I was just trying to improve my technique and then focusing on what I could do in that moment, because obviously I can't better my technique with one throw.

"I think [the season] as a whole went really well. I had a really big [personal record] in discus. Unfortunately, I didn't PR in shot put, but I think it was [a really successful season], and I think it went really well."

At State, Sackreiter threw the discus 122 feet and five inches. That was eight feet and five inches off her personal record of 130 feet and 10 inches, which she threw at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Meet on May 16.

Sackreiter had a throw of 38 feet and 11.75 inches in the shot put at state. That was the first time she had thrown under 40 feet since Brookings' home meet on May 5. Her top throw this season was 41 feet and it came a week before the State Meet in Huron. Sackreiter's personal record in the shot put came last season when she had a throw of 41 feet and 0.25 inches.

Sackreiter began her track & field career in middle school and did both throwing and sprints. She then decided that throwing would be the route that would lead to more success in high school.

"In middle school I did throwing and sprinting, and we had a really successful relay team, like we got first at a lot of our meets. I was also really successful at throwing, but it just came down to I was fast, but I kind of stayed where I was and everybody else got faster, so that's why I chose throwing. I was better at it and I just continued in high school," Sackreiter said.

Sackreiter added that she thinks she's been able to improve every year because she learns fast.

"I think I also am just a really quick learner, and I catch on to things really quick. So, when coaches have helped me, I've just understood it really quickly. It really helps me when I get videos, so I can see what I'm doing wrong and then do it again right," Sackreiter said.

Heading into her senior season, Sackreiter hopes that she can be on top of the podium in both discus and shot put. She said she's going to have to put a lot of work in this offseason, especially with her technique.

"Throughout the summer I will be working and trying to improve my technique as best as I can and as much as I can outside until it gets too cold," Kendis Sackreiter said. "But yeah, that's really all I need to work on, just my technique as much as I can."

Learning quickly is something that Sackreiter had to do in wrestling as well because she began the sport as a sophomore. She said she used to play basketball but realized that she likes individual sports more than team sports.

"I want to play a sport in every season, so my parents said 'well, the next best option is probably wrestling.' Because the other popular winter sport is gymnastics and I knew that probably wasn't going to go very well. So, I just tried it, and my parents told me that I could go for the first week of practice and if I didn't like it, I could turn everything in. I liked it and got along with all the girls and then I just continued to do it," Sackreiter said.

Sackreiter competes in the 235-pound division. She said it took awhile for her to get stuff down, but live practice and tournaments helped turn her into one of the best 235-pound wrestlers in the state.

"I just remember I didn't wrestle in the first tournament of [my sophomore] year because I wanted to watch, but something that I learned is that the best way to learn is from wrestling," Sackreiter said. "You have to go live and wrestle live matches. That's how you'll get better and that's so much better than watching. I'm a very quick learner and I'm very open and coachable.

"I will always listen to what I'm being told, especially when it's a new sport where I don't know what I'm doing. I worked hard in practice and my teammates were so welcoming and helped me, and I have the best coach, he taught me so much. We also had some girls that graduated and came back and helped coach, and that helped a lot because they can explain it in the view of what makes sense to the athlete."

Sackreiter ended up finishing in third place at the State Tournament in 2025. She lost her quarterfinal match to eventual state champion Eden Hach of Watertown, but then won her way through the consolation bracket to earn the third-place finish.

Sackreiter felt a lot more confident going into her second season on the mat. She earned the No. 2 seed in the 235-pound division at the State Tournament in 2026 and made it all the way to the championship match. En route to the title match she pinned all three of her opponents. However, she ran into the buzzsaw that was defending state champion Hach and was pinned in five minutes and 13 seconds.

Sackreiter said throughout her junior season she focused on trying to win the match instead of trying not to lose it.

"I feel like I just wrestled a lot more confidently [this year]. I think my first year I was still learning and was like, oh, I don't want to do this wrong or what if this happens. But what really switched was instead of wrestling not to lose, I wrestled to win. That definitely helped me. I think what also helped me was, some people don't like to look ahead at who they're wrestling, but I feel like that really helps me. I always am looking at, okay, I'm wrestling this girl, I know she does this and this, so how can I get out of that or avoid letting them do that,î Sackreiter said.

Sackreiter's goal for her senior season is to dethrone Hach, which will not be a small task. That journey will begin later this month when she participates in an all-star tournament in Florida, which she was invited to. She said she's going to work very hard to try to bring home a state title to Brookings.

"Honestly I just have to practice so hard over the summer. I mean Eden Hach, she's ahead of me, and she's been wrestling for a long time and comes from a wrestling background, and I've only been doing it for two years. So, I think I just have to work my butt off wrestling over the summer. I'm going to a tournament in Florida at the end of the month and I think going up against better competition from other states is going to help me," Sackreiter said.

With her junior year coming to an end and her last year of high school on the horizon, Sackreiter will now start to look ahead to what she wants to do after she graduates. She said she's leaning towards continuing to throw in college and has talked to a few schools in South Dakota about doing that, including her hometown school in South Dakota State.