Mandan High 1983: A Short Profile

Mandan Studs

It's time for some research posts again! Today I'll be looking (well, trying to anyway) at perhaps the best high school men's cross country team this state has ever had. I'll tell ya- this has been a fun article to write, because I've learned A LOT. For example, did you know that what we know now as Bismarck State College once had a JuCo (Junior College) cross country team? Me neither. Let's get started....

In 1981 Leon House assumed the reigns of Coach of the Mandan High School Cross Country program. [Mandan is located in central North Dakota on the west side of the Missouri River- the only thing separating them from neighboring Bismarck.] In 1981, 1982, and 1983, Mandan won the State Class A Boys XC meet, marking the only three state championships the school has had in the boys class A race in school history, even up to now. 1983 seemed to be the culmination of a growing program hitting its peak, with a dominating season, winning every race they competed in and finishing off the season with their 21st consecutive win at the state meet, and the next year they brought the total up to 31 before losing at state. (Down at the bottom of this article is a link to a milesplit page that has an EXCELLENT write up on this team). Perhaps the most dominating performance of the season came at the WDA Championship Meet, where they placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 17th, with 5k times of 15:03-15:10 (1-4) and 15:57 (5). That's absurd. Bismarck High has been tearing up the state XC scene up for years now, but even they have not had that much depth on their team. Consider at the state meet in 1983 Mandan's top three ran 16:13-16:14 after taking a wrong turn and actually going off course at one point. Afterwards Coach House, calling it one of the worst-run state meets ever, said that his athletes ran "about 20 steps the wrong way with an official right there asleep at the wheel." It still blows my mind that through the whole season they never scored more than 61 points as a team!

So who were the top three guys who ran on the team that season?

David Meuchel was the 1983 WDA Champion and State 4th place finisher (after taking a wrong turn recall). He was the school's the team's first-ever WDA individual champion. So, he was one of the leaders of the 1983 team. In the 1984 state track meet, he took 3rd in the 3200, with a time of 9:42 (the winner was the man who broke the state record at the time, Jeff Dick from Jamestown, who ran 9:10 and won by 30 seconds) and took 5th in the 1600 in 4:32 (J. Dick won 6 seconds with a 4:22). Fun fact: the guy who took second in the 800 that year, Mike Toy from Williston, would later go on to break the Minot State outdoor 800m record with a 1:51, at the same time Meuchel was later at Minot State. Last fun fact about state track that year, in the 110 hurdles, the 4th place runner, Greg Limke from Bishop Ryan, later coached basketball at West Fargo, my high school.

After high school, it seems as if he spent time at Bismarck Junior College and Minot State University. In 1984 at the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) National XC meet in Twin Falls, Idaho, David Meuchel from Bismarck Junior College placed 45th with a time of 28:11.27 in what must have been an 8km race, as the NJCAA mandated that distance for nationals starting in 1975. I wonder if the course was difficult and the altitude led to slower times. Additionally, the only teammate of Meuchel's to place ahead of him was Lars Smeenk. Now, in 1982, the year before Meuchel won the WDA title, a man named Lars Smeek from Bismarck won the WDA title, so I'm going to assume that the Lars Smeenk listed as the 39th place finisher overall for Bismarck Junior College is the same one that won the WDA title a few years before, and I'll admit I have no idea which spelling is correct. Anyway, a David Meuchal also appears on rosters for Minot State University in the late 80s ('87-'89 I believe). After that, I have no idea.

Darrin Boehm was the #2 runner for Mandan High School while they were tearing it up. He was a junior during the 1983 year, and as mentioned above, he finished 5th at State XC, less than a second behind teammate Meuchel. At the state track meet that spring of 1984, he placed 5th in both the 1600 and 3200, running times of 4:30 and 9:44, respectively. In 1984 XC season, he won the WDA individual title and placed second at the state meet. He also broke a few course records throughout the season.

After high school he went to VCSU (Valley City State University, NAIA at the time, now DII) and ran XC and track. He had a successful career, including being part of the school-record 4x800 relay that ran 7:57. He also is top 10 in school history in three other events: the 1500 (3:56.82), the 5k (15:47.40), and the 3k Steeple (9:35.30), even though I'm 99% sure some of those aren't his absolute fastest times, since he just told me this morning he ran 3:52 for the 1500. He was two-time conference champion and 4-time national qualifier in cross country,  Last year, 2014, he was inducted into the Valley City State Athletics Hall of Fame. He was also a two-time national qualifier in track, once in the steeple and once in the 1500. If I may, I would also add that he was a pretty darn good high school government teacher and track coach!

Boehm!!

Gary Schafer was the third runner for the Braves that 1983 season. He was also all-state in cross country in high school, placing 3rd at the WDA meet and 6th at the state meet in 1983, and supposedly ran 4:44 and 9:56 for the 1600 and 3200 his freshman year of high school. He was another one of the athletes that took a wrong turn at the state xc meet in 1983.

After high school he also went to VCSU and had a great career as well. In 2001 he was inducted into the VCSU athletics HOF, and has the distinction of being a national champion. Out of the all the different levels of college in the US, only the NAIA has the marathon as an event in which the collegiate athletes compete. Schafer, in 1989, won the NAIA marathon title, running 2:29. He also is ranked in the top ten in VCSU school history in the 5k (2nd, 15:12) and the 10K (5th, 31:33).

After college he worked in business as a manager and vice president at Great Plains Software in Fargo (which later was acquired by Microsoft for a good chunk of money), and then worked for LANAC company in Chicago.

So overall, this was an amazing high school team that sent runners off to relatively successful post-high school careers. It's not surprising that many of the state's best teams come from the Missouri River Valley region with how rugged the terrain can be out there. It's simply another example of people who were fast even though they trained exclusively in North Dakota.

As always with these posts, let me know if I messed up anywhere or seem to be missing facts!


Links that aided my research:
Milesplit Article About Mandan High
Mandan High Hall of Fame Article on Coach House
Cross Country Journal w/ College Nationals Results
Some WDA XC History
State XC History
'88-'89 Minot State Yearbook Thing
'87-'88 Minot State Yearbook Thing
1984 Class A Boys State Track Results
VCSU Track Records
Boehm Broke Course Records
VCSU Hall of Fame Announcement
Gary Schafer- ND Runner
NAIA Marathon Champions
Business Announcement About Schafer