State Track

Divide Avenue- that's the exit. Once over the bridge, the road turns to the right and sharply up a short hill, hiding the small college on the other side. The parking lot sits dormant early in the morning, but by midday will be packed with dirt-and-mud-covered SUVs and SUVs (along with some brand new farm pickups and beaten down old Buicks). The athletes plunge into the east entrance and walk down the hillside, sometimes taking one, other times two steps to traverse the awkward wood steps that line the way down. The lay people enter through the north side, showing a beautiful concrete and marble structure called the MDU Resources Community Bowl (formerly the Bismarck Community Bowl, but with less concrete and marble). On the sides of the large structure are two small, railed-off seating areas, one reserved for Dickinson Trinity (the Catholics), and the other for Carrington (that place with the pasta). In the directions of north, east, and south, the bowl is, well...a bowl. The north and south sides have layer upon layer of good ol fashioned stadium seating, while the east side has post-spring-rains lush green grass to sit on. To the west on the other side of the Missouri River is Mandan, a stunning view of the once magnificent valley, now dotted by houses used in the war of affluence. Further up past the horseshoe-shaped sidewalk connecting it all is the continued green hillside, containing all the colors of the rainbow represented in dinky tents protecting all the high school athletes. Of course, Bismarck High has their behemoth tent taking up the middle spot, a clear sign of athletic financial superiority, and usually next door is a small blue or red tent representing one of the 35 Class B schools to sport one of those two colors. The sun is coming out.

The lay people are starting to filter in quite handily now. The FCA meeting on the south hillside has finished, culminating in almost 100 athletes standing in a circle, holding hands and saying the Lord's Prayer. Amen. The field events have already started, random unannounced screams of joy erupting from far away places when a sophomore girl jumped her pr and might now make it to finals, the first athlete from her small school in years to do so. Dodging fellow spectators on the concourse sidewalk is always entertaining, especially when a young child decides to ignore simple courtesy rules of mob-mentality sidewalk walking; it is not uncommon to see the 'dance of the dodge' on this sidewalk. The hall of fame class is brought up to the stage; high school champions, college all-conference accolades, coach of 30 years, athletic directors, race officials, and passionate tracksters stand up in front of the thousands gathered for this yearly ritual. The hurdlers are starting to warm up around the track area, the coaches stands are still desolate, a rancher walks past. I wonder if he's thinking about low beef prices.

It's one of the most popular and well-attended events in the state, but it isn't shown live on TV. It brings people from every corner of the state: Hankinson to Crosby, Marmarth to Pembina, but you can't find it on the radio. Most of the hotels in Bismarck are plum full for the weekend, but you have to create an account to watch the live stream online. They always offer assurance that spam will not come. The stands are segregated by Class B teams, bright green and bright orange, deep blue and dark red. Grandparents are walking down the steps with their canes showing the way, while little kids sit on the shoulders of standing Dad in the back, watching their freshman son run his first race at state. It's amazing how quickly he got into shape after wrestling season. The flags above the scoreboard are sleeping after a rough few weeks; one old-timer says it's the best weather he has ever seen at state. The sky deepens blue in the far west; any North Dakotans worth their salt know it gon rain.

State records are either falling or tantalizingly close to falling today, a direct result of the rare privilege of nice weather. In the girls' 300 hurdles, a close finish between the fourth and fifth place finishers is followed by a sigh from the crowd after collectively holding their breath. The two girls, who live more than 3 hours apart and are in different regions, shake hands and talk about school afterwards. They both agree that the fourth-place girls' volleyball team will be quite strong in the fall- they might even make it to state. While they walk off the track, the 3200 gets going. The incredible battles up front between the same old folks is always a pleasure, but no matter how great the race, the fans always seem to come back to the mind-baffling sympathy clap at the end. Not only is the poor kid having a bad race and struggling to finish, but it's quite obvious to him that everybody here feels bad for him. One of the earlier finishers, the one with the man bun, asks his coach where he placed, to which the coach raises up his hands in deference- he couldn't see it. The line for the women's bathroom is out the door. The men walk right in.

Midway through the meet, about the time the high hurdles are taking place, the rain rolls in. In uncommon fashion, the wind doesn't pick up and thunder doesn't holler through the sky, but a pleasant drip-drop starts. The water is cold, and instantly people are moving in droves to covered areas. North Dakotans know that if it rains, it pours. The sprinkles feel quite good on the skin, and the young group of Fargo boys stay out in the grass and keep throwing processed sugars candy at each other. Fifteen minutes later it's pouring and the meet is delayed; most people are wondering why. Shuffling past one of the tents, the kids have pulled out an iHome of some kind and screaming through the speakers is IIIIIIII WANNA KNOWWwww have you EVERRRRRRRRRRR SEEEEENNNN the RRRRRAAAAIIIIINNNN. Walking up the majestic steps of the MDU Resources Community Bowl proves difficult, as hundreds of people have congregated in this area to avoid the falling water that most of the state needs. People are still coming in and getting their hands stamped, and the parking lot is full of people running to get their umbrellas. What they don't know is that by the time they get to their vehicle, the rain will be done. Two coaches from Bemidji State walk past- obviously they are only there to recruit girls since they cut their men's program a few years back. Two Class B teams win state with less kids than many bigger city kids had in their Sunday School classes growing up.

Before hopping on the interstate, the dairy queen near the state capitol needs to be consulted. Every year this little store fills up with post-state-track ice cream seekers. They advertise that they sell fresh eggs when available and that plastic jugs can also be purchased here. The Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock short bus is in the Hobby Lobby parking lot. A group of kids in white shirts is sitting in the middle of the intersection of Hwy 83 and that road that goes to K-Mart and Perkins. A Valley Bus drives past, headed to the interstate eastbound. A recently-washed SUV drives past with 'GOOD LUCK AT STATE TRACK' painted on the windows. It hails. It rains again. A rainbow appears in the east. 364 more days until state track at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck.

The End

We were walking down a hallway. This straight-line path was well lit, white walled, and had many doors. At the end of the hallway was a beautiful red door with a sparkling glass handle. My teammates and I arrived at the door and stood there, looking at each other; we knew. One of them grabbed the door handle, gently turned the bright knob, and gingerly opened the door. Inside was black. I couldn't see anything past the entry, but I strode forward into the darkness. Immediately all light was gone and a stiff wind hit me in the face, slamming the door shut behind me. Dazed, I immediately turned around to go back. The door was gone. I screamed out "NO!" and frantically searched for any hint of the door. I couldn't see anything in the blackness, and I was disoriented. The wall was gone, in fact everything was gone. I was in a world of nothing. "GUYS!" I yelled out, but there was nothing. I was truly alone. I sat down on the hard, cold ground.

I looked up and there standing before me was the trainer and the doctor. This back room was where some tough conversations happen, and I'm pretty sure this is no exception. Behind this closed door he's saying something about MTSS, which apparently is some kind of fancy way of saying 'you're gonna get a stress fracture if you don't settle down'. I look down at the forlorn carpet, doing my all to hold back tears. I mumble about understanding and just try to get out of there. After two and a half years of sweat and struggle, I finally had my breakthrough, but it will all be for not. I can't bear it. I escape from the training room and stumble into the locker room, finally parking my fragile legs on the futon. No conference. No spring break trip. No more prs this year. I slump. Just don't cry.

Just don't cry. The floor is still cold and I can't see. The wind has gone and there is no sound. I look up and actually see some stars, shining down little rays of light into my dark world, so somehow the roof disappeared too. Where am I? I'm rolling out of bed at 6:00am and putting on layers. I'm 4 weeks away from my breakthrough. I'm running down the gravel road outside of Horace and doing my workout underneath the stars, because I have a big day of driving across the great state of North Dakota coming up. scratch scratch scratch my shoes say. It's -28F actual temperature with no wind. After my last rep, I stop and look at the stars, overjoyed that no cars are disturbing my morning adventures. My breath hangs in the air and distorts some of the stars. I can't even see the road I'm running on. I come back into town right before sunrise, and the locals have all autostarted their vehicles to begin the daily ritual of hastily sprinting to the car to avoid having the cold air touch their face. You know, the cold really doesn't feel that cold when there isn't wind.

I'm cold now, though. I suppose I should get up and move around and try to figure out where I am and what on earth I need to do. Suddenly, to my right I hear some kind of beeping. I look and there's Ryan looking at his watch. We run together a lot these days, and for some odd reason, even when we start our runs in the exact same place and at the exact same time, his watch always beeps, signifying another mile completed, before mine. We were running on the trails recently and my watch beeped before his. "HA! I'M FASTER!" I exclaimed. His watch got me next mile though. I never could figure it out, but this time he unexpectedly started running up and down the hill next to us, and at that moment it hit me like the shower door I ran into last night while searching for the toliet: he's a cheater. And he knows it. He's always looking for ways to take on an extra .01 miles here and there. In fact, he smiles with mirth because he knows I know. I'll get him someday. Someday.

The sound is getting louder as I'm getting closer. I'm getting excited and starting to pick up my pace to a slight shuffle. You know, every time I hear the word shuffle, I think back to 9th grade when we would do physical fitness testing in gym. I can't even remember what the exercise was called, but it was some kind of shuffle. We would shuffle back and forth to pick up these chalk board erasers and get to the finish as fast as possible. I never was too good at that. Now, I don't know where I am or what I'm running towards, but it's something; I have no clear picture of what I need to do with life right now anyway, so why not chase it? I accelerate even more, and I'm running now. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I trip over some large object and fall directly on my knee before faceplanting into the hard, cold floor. Uff! After taking a second to catch the wind recently knocked out of me, I stand up and look at my teammates turning around to check up on me. We all knew this parking lot was icy, like everything is in January, but I had no idea my feet would simply disappear from under me. I sat in midair, helpless while the ground took me prisoner and let gravity have the final word. Quickly rising to my feet, I tell the guys I'm fine, and hobble through the next mile, going through the paradox of running to loosen up something in my leg that hurts really bad. It works. My teammates keep running.

Yeah, where are those guys?? They were with me at the red door, but then they left me here in the dark! Maybe it's the fact that the beeping mysteriously stopped, maybe it's the whatever-it-is that I tripped over, maybe it's the miserable situation I'm currently in, maybe it's the teammates who aren't with me- but I start getting angry. I hit the ground as hard as I can. CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK. I look at my locker. The old green piece of metal had no dents in it. I try hitting it harder. CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK. Why does this happen every year? Being told you almost have a stress fracture after a huge race is bad enough, but two years in a row? Nonense. Dammit anyway. Is this not where I'm called to be? Am I destined to be a failure? What am I doing wrong? Am I going to be one of those promising runners whose career is permanently derailed by injuries? AHHHHHH CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK. I recede to the floor, letting my back slide along the lockers on the way down. I let out a sigh; I guess tomorrow I'll be at the pool.

I pat the ground with my hands and crawl on my knees, forming increasingly large concentric circles, searching the ground for this stupid, ill-placed object. I finally touch it, and it's just some book. I stare at the blackness, knowing that in my hand, which I cannot see, is some book that some person put in likely hundreds of hours compiling, putting their heart and soul into their work, giving up things important to most people, only to have it end up here. The absurdity of it all finally catches up with me and I start laughing. Hearty, heavy, heaves of laughter escape from me and I can't stop. I sit there and laugh like an idiot, all by myself. My breathing wanes and my eyes are watering. I can't even begin to imagine what people looking at me would think. I guess I don't care.

Maybe they would be like my competitors in that 5k in South Dakota, where it was super windy and we came around a corner, got slapped by a gust of wind, and I yelled "WOO-HOO!", causing one athlete to ignore his stride for a second and give me a look (it wasn't joy). Maybe they would be like the frequent flyers of Terrace Dining Center when Econ took that fake fish and ran out of the building, chased by grossly out of shape staff. Maybe they would look like I did when Nick stopped our run to pick up snow off the sand, pulled a vitamin out of his pocket, and ate it with the snow. "What?" he said, "it opens up my capillaries."

I'm walking with a smile now, book in hand. However, I still can't shake off this feeling of helplessness. Ryan and I have just ascended the last of the brutal the hills, only to be greeted with a sign boasting the parking lot to be 7.5 miles away. We look at each other, already 90 minutes into our 80 minute run, exhausted, the wind now out of our sails- we thought we were done. We timidly start jogging down the beautiful, hilly gravel road, surrounded by woods. Turns out the ATV group we passed a while back comes upon us and offers us a ride back to the parking lot, which we immediately accept. It's like the time we were sprinting through the airport to get to our flight that was already supposed to be taking off. Turns out the pilot was a UND grad who heard about our delays and held the plane for us. He was the only one with authority to do that. It's like the many times we would get dropped off on a gravel road, strong winds blowing powdery snow across the road so fast we could hardly see the road. Turns out, running with the wind at your back is wonderful in the winter. It's like when the amount of rest for your next rep is slowly running out and you are NOT ready for the next one. Turns out, it helps you get better. It's like being 4 miles outside of Grand Forks and your gloves are horrifically inadequate, your hands freezing, and sub-zero wind chill not caring one bit. Turns out, mental toughness got me to the gas station and gave me hope.

I run straight into a wall. OW! Naturally, I can't see the wall, but it's there. Without spending precious seconds wondering why there's a wall suddenly, I begin frantically probing it with my hands until I come upon a door handle. I pause. I do a quick inhale and hold my breath. I turn the doorknob, try pulling the door, realize it's a push door, push it open, and become blinded by stunning white light. I take a step forward into the new warmth and hear the door shut behind me. I turn around to watch a beautiful blue door with a shining glass handle disappear into nothing. The wall is gone. I hear the distinct sound of the chickadee in a nearby tree. I look up and see the baseball net. I look down at my running shoes, forward at the huge facility, and up at the ventilation system where the sound is coming from. It's the dead of winter, but this machine makes a sound just like that bird, and it grabs my heart and gets me craving summer. I stand there, in complete silence, having the whole High Performance Center to myself, cherishing every beautiful second. It's relaxing and simultaneously intimidating, but now I'm tired. After having rolled out of bed at 5:30am, I step outside the cabin into the summer morning sunrise. This long run isn't going to run itself, and I need to get going before it gets hot. After all, there's incredibly few trees to block the sun out here in the countryside. I start off down the gravel road. I see the morning star. I hear the sound of the chickadees. This will be a good run. scratch scratch scratch

I look down at the book in hand. It's titled 'Memories', and underneath it is an interlocking ND.
 I stare at the blackness, knowing that in my hand, which I cannot see, is some book that some person put in likely hundreds of hours compiling, putting their heart and soul into their work, giving up things important to most people
I smile. I start walking down the street towards the future. My plan is to

The Winning Times- State Track Series Part 2

My research series coming up has involved a lot of digging, and I'm ready to start putting pieces together. I've learned things that I can't help but share with others, because I find them to be truly amazing. What athletes have done at state track and state cross country over the years boggles my mind, and I wish I could go back and see them! In all of these posts, I am indebted to Brad Leingang, track and field coach at Bismarck High, for his incredible work piecing together all the state track results dating back to 1903, the first year a meet was held. His work is here: https://sites.google.com/bismarckschools.org/bpstrackfieldxc/home/all-time-lists
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Updated 8/11/2020

One question common for humans to ask themselves is how they compare to humans of the past. In fact, we see this every day. Does the new social media age of connectedness help us or hurt us compared to past generations? Are we less sustainable than our grandparents? What is the town's population now compared to 1950? And, of course, the most important question: how do the winning times at state track compare to those of 30, 40, or even 50 years ago?

This is the first step in my goal to try to understand where we are at as a state. Inevitably we expect the times to improve over time, but do they really? The best and most complete way to look at this would be to average the finishing times of the first 5 or 6 places and see how they compare over time, but looking first at the winning times is a fun exercise. 

As a disclaimer, there will be years with outlying times, such as freak athletes or terrible weather, but we are looking at trendlines here. If the best athletes in the state are getting better over time, the data should show that. Let's take a look!

*Note, you can click on pictures to enlarge them. I know the font is quite small. 

The 1600 Meter Run:

In Class A Boys, the 1600 has been run every year since the start of the state meet in 1903. Until 1980 it was the mile, but I have converted every winning time over to our current metric system so as to have fluidity between years. In 1950, Class B Boys branched off from Class A and formed the two divisions that we still see today, even though schools have jostled around, and some schools that were Class A in 1950 are now Class B (Rubgy and Grafton are good examples). The Women's races didn't come around until 1972, but they started off as A and B separated. Here's the chart:

Quick note: The x-axis represents years starting at 1903 and ending at 2019. '1' is 1903, and '117' is 2019. 

Analysis: For the boy's races, it is readily apparent that there is an overall downward trend, most pronounced in the early years, but leveling off towards the end. Most years the winning time in Class A is faster than that of Class B, which is normal (more kids, more coaches, better facilities, etc). What struck me immediately was that after the early 1970s, there seems to be a flattening out of the times. Yes, there have been fast times, but the times seem to oscillating around a flat line, rather than a downward trend. In fact, in the 1990s, times actually slowed on average. My high school coach would tell me about the great runners of the first running boom (70s and 80s) and then a decline after that, and this seems to substantiate that. It seems here that the state's best haven't gotten better since the 1970s.

For the girl's races, it's a bit of a different story. There's not as many years overall, so it's harder to establish a pattern, but outliers skew the lines a little more. First observation: the disparity between Class A&B is much more, with the exception of the Krista and Lindsay Anderson years in the early 2000s where they completed dominated girl's distance running. Also, that huge dip down on the Class A girls side is Becki Wells, who is the fastest miler ever produced by this state (read more about her here). Overall, the Class B girls, even with the bouncing up and down, have trended downward even through the 90s and 2000s, while the Class A girls are really all over the place and show no general trend after 1980s.

The 800 Meter Run: The 800 was the other race that has been run since a LONG time ago, and it started as the 880-yard run in 1911. I've again converted all the times before 1980 over to the 800 meter. Class A Boys started in 1911, Class B Boys branched off in 1950, Class A Girls started in 1970, and Class B Girls branched off a year later in 1971. Here's the chart:

Quick note: On the x-axis, '1' represents 1911 and '109' represents 2019.

The chart for the 800 looks similar in many ways to the chart for the 1600. The times immediately go down quickly, but for the men they stabilize somewhat and for the women's oscillate more. In this chart, the Class A Boys start leveling off again in the 1970s after continual down-trend. The Class B Boys leveled off in the 1980s, and actually had been trending upward for 15-20 years after 2000, but there have been some studs recently that have lowered that. The Class A Girls only took a few years to get down into the mid-2:10s, but they have oscillated around that mark since. The Class B Girls trended downward straight into the Christine Bruins/Anderson sisters years in the early 2000s again, but immediately went up, so no clear trend overall is there.

The 3200 Meter Run:

This has been a relatively new event to the state meet. It first didn't appear until 1971, when both Class A&B Boys competed in it. The Girls A&B both started in 1982 after a couple years of the 2400 meter run. This event started as the 2 mile, but went to the 3200. I converted times over again. Here's the chart:

Quick Note: On the x-axis, '1' represents 1971, and '49' represents 2019.

In the previous graphs, it has been apparent that a downward trend has ceased starting in the 1970s. In this chart, where that's the starting point, we can see that for the Boys A&B there really hasn't been any significant change in the trendline over time, certainly not downwards. In terms of average and trendlines, there hasn't been much change for the Girls A&B either, but again the outliers are more pronounced. We can again see the Anderson years in the Class B Girls line, and the years following Carly Emil's performance on the women's (they form an X on the chart). In this chart you get to see the only distance record held by a Class B runner: the women's 3200. The state meet record is still held by Krista Anderson, and no Class A runner has been able to top it, before or since.

The 4x800 Meter Relay:

The newest distance event at the state track meet, the 4x8 was started in 1974 with both A&B Boys, while both A&B Girls started in 1982. It started as the 2 mile relay, but switched over to the 4x800. I converted the times over. Here's the chart:

Quick Note: '1' on the x-axis represents 1974, while '46' represents 2019.

This chart can be suggestive of strength and depth of the best distance teams over time, not just individuals. In the A&B Boys we can actually see a slight upward trend throughout the entire chart, while the B Girls show a downward trend for the first half, and then an upward trend for the second half. Only the A Girls show a downward trend throughout the chart, and that surprises me. I guess I expected all of these to be going down over time.

Summary:

I went into this expecting all of the charts to show nice downward trends throughout the years, and I was mistaken. In the first three charts, the individual events, the fastest high school distance runners in the state seem to, as a whole, not have improved much in the last 40 years (with the obvious outlier exceptions). What was most surprising was the in the 4x800 relay chart, we actually see some slight upward trends. Now, as I stated at the beginning, there could be other factors such as weather that come into play, but over the span of decades, if there was a trend to be seen, it would show up. I guess, for now my preliminary conclusion is that the best distance runners in the state haven't gotten faster in the last 30-40 years. However, my next blog post is going to look at the average time of the top 4-5 places in all these events, and then we will get a better idea of how our state fares nowadays. That blog post might take awhile though!

The Distance Quad- State Track Series Part 1

My research series coming up has involved a lot of digging, and I'm ready to start putting pieces together. I've learned things that I can't help but share with others, because I find them to be truly amazing. What athletes have done at state track and state cross country over the years boggles my mind, and I wish I could go back and see them! In all of these posts, I am indebted to Brad Leingang, track and field coach at Bismarck High, for his incredible work piecing together all the state track results dating back to 1903, the first year a meet was held. His work is here: https://bismarckhighthrowers.weebly.com/all-time-state-track-meet-results.html
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Updated 4/4/2021

In many states, rules or competition make it impossible (or virtually impossible) to do more than one or two distance events at state. In North Dakota, an athlete can compete in up to 4 events at state track, and doing the distance quadruple (800, 1600, 3200, 4x800) at state track therefore becomes something a runner can aspire to do. The runner would need to have qualified for all four distance events, and then compete in all four of them in the span of about 30 hours against the state's best runners, often in the less-than-stellar late May weather. The 1600 usually falls early Friday afternoon, followed by the 4x800 a few hours later. Saturday brings the 3200 early in the afternoon, with the 800 a few hours later. Many times the 800 breaks into two groups: the fresh athletes up front, and the tired athletes in the back racing because they CAN. In fact, no one blinks an eye at the fellow who won the 1600 and 3200 and is far behind in the 800 because it's understood that they are exhausted. I myself sucked wind in the back at the end of my distance quad senior year, and when I went to apologize to my Coach, he told me not to worry about it; doing all four is hard!

However, every so often an athlete comes along who defies expectations and asserts themselves among some of the state's greats. These athletes not only won a state championship in a distance event, but three or even FOUR. Every one of these athletes could, within reason, be argued to be one of the greatest distances runners in state history. Some athletes have state records, but could never get that third or fourth event title.


First, here are the athletes who won three individual distance titles, but were never part of a relay that won them a fourth title. Also notice how many of them also won state cross country that school year:

1.) Syd Lahtinen, (New Town) 1986-1987. Times of 1:57.20, 4:23.11, and 9:36.79. He also won state cross country that school year.
2.) Kevin Miller, (Rugby) 1989-1990. Times of 1:55.91, 4:21.02, and 9:22.15.
3.) Corey Ihmels, (Williston) 1991-1992. Times of 1:55.56, 4:16.58, and 9:03.65 (Class A state record until 2012). He also won state cross country that school year.

4.) Becki Wells, (Dickinson) 1992-1993. Times of 2:13.19, 4:44.44 (still the Class A state record), and 11:09.29. She also won state cross country that school year. 
4.) Corey Wiley, (Litchville/Marion) 1997-1998. Times of 1:56.95, 4:19.41 (class B record until 2015), and 9:27.02 (class B record until 2015).

5.) Carly Emil, (Mandan) 2000-2001. Times of 2:17.05, 4:56.19, 10:52.68.
6) Ross Schilling, (Harvey) 2002-2003. Times of 1:58.42, 4:22.83, and 9:42.82.
7.) Sam Larson, (Jamestown) 2006-2007. Times of 1:56.80, 4:20.25, and 9:24.18. He also won state cross country that school year.

8.) Asha Smith, (Watford City) 2013-2014. Times of 2:14.54, 5:00.47, 11:16.99.
9.) Hunter Lucas, (Fargo Davies) 2016-2017. Times of  1:55.45, 4:13.81, and 9:21.09. He also won state cross country that school year.
10.) Karley Ackley, (Grand Forks Central) 2016-2017. Times of 2:15.43, 4:57.63, and 10:46.22. Also worth noting that her 4x8 took second, but ran the 3rd fastest time in state history at the time- 9:25.71. She also won Class A state cross country that school year.
11.) Isaac Huber, (Edgeley-Kulm) 2017-2018. Times of  1:56.77, 4:22.56, 9:40.94.
12.) Isaac Huber (again) 2018-2019. Times of 1:56.13, 4:17.58, and 9:27.89. He also won state cross country that school year.

Next, here are the athletes who won three individual distance titles AND were part of a relay that also took first place, aka the Distance Quad:

1.) Claude Smith, (Grand Forks Red River) 1975-1976. Times of 1:57.6 (880), 4:18.47 (mile), and 9:33.8 (two mile). The two mile relay's time was 8:03.47.
2.) Tayna Fischer, (Bowman) 1989-1990. Times of 2:21.75, 5:22.14, and 11:29.26. The 4x800 relay's time was 10:15.58.

3.) Beth Hoge, (Bismarck Century) 1998-1999. Times of 2:17.34, 4:58.65, 10:48.54. The 4x800 relay's time was 9:29.79. 
4.) Carly Emil (again), (Mandan) 2001-2002. Times of 2:17.76, 4:57.16, and 11:04.73. The 4x800 relay's time was 9:47.21.
5.) Ross Schilling, (Harvey) 2003-2004. Yes, he won three events in 2003 (see above), but in 2004 he followed it up with a team title in the 4x400 (not 4x8, but close enough for me). Times of 1:56.42, 4:25.64, and 9:44.71. The 4x4 Relay's time was 3:30.06.
6.) Brittany Brownotter, (Bismarck High) 2013-2014. Times of 2:18.72, 5:03.29, and 10:53.33. The 4x8 relay's time was 9:29.88.
7.) Lana Krack, (Thompson) 2018-2019. Times of 2:18.21, 5:04.38, and 11:08.00. The 4x8 relay's time was 10:04.33.

The final section is going to be the athletes who, for one school year, dominated everything distance running in North Dakota. These folks won the individual state cross country title in the fall and then came back in the spring to not only complete the distance quad, but WIN all four events. Setting aside finishing times and whether or not they break records, a distance runner in North Dakota really cannot accomplish any more than this without going to regional and national meets. You may recognize many of these names on the top-ten lists I've been compiling. Here they are:

1.) Joan Hammeren, (Bismarck High) 1982-1983. Won the 1982 Class A Girls State XC Meet, and at the 1983 Class A State Track meet won with times of 2:13.32, 5:15.10, and 11:11.15. The 4x4 relay's time (again 4x4, but close enough) was 4:02.16.

2.) Rob Heen, (Williston) 1986-1987. Won the 1986 Class A Boys State XC Meet, and at the 1987 Class A State Track meet won with times of 1:54.89, 4:12.76, and 9:19.84. The 4x8 relay's time was 7:59.46.

3.) Tanya Fischer, (see previous section- Bowman) 1993-1994. Won the 1993 Class B Girls State XC Meet, and at the 1994 Class B State Track meet won with times of 2:18.82, 5:20.02, and 11:39.53. The 4x8 relay's time was 9:45.11.

4.) Lindsay Anderson, (Leeds/Maddock for XC and Benson County for Track) 2006-2008. She did this two years in a row! First, she won the 2006 Class B Girls State XC Meet, and at the 2007 Class B State Track meet won with times of 2:18.08, 5:06.80, 11:07.01. The 4x8 relay's time was 9:48.05.

She then won the 2007 Class B Girls State XC Meet, and at the 2008 Class B State Track meet won with times of 2:19.36, 5:12.39, and 11:05.90. The 4x8 relay's time was 10:01.82.

5.) Jake Leingang, (Bismarck High) 2012-2013. Won the 2012 Class A Boys State XC Meet, and at the 2013 Class A State Track meet won with times of 1:57.25, 4:13.69, and 9:24.48. The 4x8 relay's time was 8:05.92.

6.) Ryan Wheeling, (New Town) 2015-2016. Won the 2015 Class B Boys State XC Meet, and at the 2016 Class B State Track Meet won with times of 1:58.01, 4:20.54, and 9:30.74. The 4x8 relay's time was 8:12.63.


Amazing isn't it? Next up in the State Track Series will be looking at the winning times at the state meet over time. Have they slowed, sped up, or stayed around the same area recently? We'll find out!

April 2016: An ND Runner Month-In-Review

Ackley
Couresy: grandforksherald.cm

Women's Race of the Month: For the second time in as many months, Karley Ackley (Junior/Grand Forks Central), is in the women's race of the month for her outstanding 3200 time from April 28th at the Shanley Invite run at Concordia-Moorhead. She ran a time of 10:36.97, which moves her up the all-time Class A Girls List, passing Carly Emil for second place (Emil still has the record for fastest Class A Girls 3200 at the state meet). In fact, only two girls in overall history have ever run faster times: Krista Anderson (Leeds/Iowa), who ran 10:36.95 at the 2004 State Class B Meet (still the overall state meet record), and Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn (9th grade/Bismarck High), who last year ran 10:33.49 in a race where Ackley was also under 10:40.

I think what's even more impressive about this time was the fact that it was entirely solo. She won this race by 40 seconds! Or to see it another way: the 7th place finisher qualified for state but lost to Ackley by 75 seconds!

(This next section was a
dded after the article was finished)

Courtesy: marcfhenning.photoshelter.com

Women's Race of the Month #2: While reading through the 'Week that Was' on Letsrun.com, I stumbled across a race result at the US Half Marathon Championships in Columbus, Ohio on April 30th. A 'Semehar Tesfaye' placed 7th with a time of 1:14:12, and she was listed as being from Minot, North Carolina. Well, Minot North Carolina does not exist so I reasoned that it was Minot, ND. Turns out she is a Fargo South grad who then went to NDSU, Iowa State, and Arkansas (in that order). She ran collegiate pr's of 4:28 in the 1500, 16:04 in the 5000, and 33:49 in the 10,000, all of which put her on the ND women's all-time lists. Her senior year of high school at Fargo South she placed fifth in the 3200 with a time of 11:31 and placed 18th at the state cross country meet. According to her LinkedIn, she does in fact work in Minot now. 1:14:12 is an incredible time and very competitive nationally, as evidenced by her placing. More information on races she ran when I find them!

Lucas was 3rd at State XC in the fall.
Courtesy: inforum.com

Men's Race of the Month: Without a doubt, we have to look only a few days ago at the Kiwanis Meet at the Bismarck Community Bowl (April 30th) to find quite an impressive race. In the 3200, three guys from three different schools all ran times that would win state most years. However, what happened around those times equally astounds me. The winner of the race was junior Hunter Lucas from Fargo Davies. He ran 9:15.02, which stands as the 5th fastest Boys 3200 time in state history (Class A&B combined). In the middle of the season, that would stand alone as an amazing accomplishment, but looking further at the results details something amazing. Not only was he a member of the Davies 4x800 relay team that took 2nd place with a time of 8:29, but he also ran the open 800 with a time of 1:58.37! The 800 and 3200 are very close events on the schedule, and seeing people run both is rare due to the limited amount of time in between them. So, not only did he run one of the fastest 3200s in state history, but he also came back and raced one of the fastest 800s of the season so far! (and the 4x8 earlier too!!). Wow! Crazy what happens when the weather is actually nice for a meet, eh?

(Yes, 3200 before 800 is weird, but so are peanut butter filled pretzels and I accept those whole-heartedly)

Now, it would be an absolute tragedy to not mention the two other fine races run at the same time:

Last year's state champ in the Class A 3200, Sam Clausnitzer (Senior/Bismarck High), was right behind Lucas with a time of 9:17.56, which stands as the 8th-fastest time in state history (A&B combined again), and three seconds faster than his state-winning time from last year.

Wheeling has the top times in Class B
for the 800, 1600, and 3200.
Courtesy: minotdailynews.com

Last fall's state champ at Class B XC, Ryan Wheeling (Junior/New Town), also pulled off the impressive 3200/800 double, running Class B-leading times of 9:32.77 and 1:58.40, respectively. Even more impressive, recall that last year at state track, Elliot Stone (Shiloh/NDSU), broke the state class B 3200 record by running 9:24.93, and the previous record had been 9:27. How about this: since the 3200 (2 mile before that) started in 1971, only 5 times has the winning time at state B in the 3200 been faster than 9:32.* So, moral of the story is that this race was LIT.

High-School Round-Up:

Moving into early April, there was still a couple of indoor meets to clear up before moving outside. On April 1st and 2nd, Class A State Indoor and Class B State Indoor were held on respective days at the Shelly Ellig Indoor Track Facility at NDSU. Peyton Frolek pulled off an impressive triple in the Class B Girls, running 2:22.8, 5:17, and 11:21 for 800, 1600, and 3200 to win all three races. Also Class B, Wheeling (see above) ran 1:59 and 4:24 in the 800 and 1600 to win both. In Class A, Ackley and Clausnitzer (see above) both pulled the 1600/3200 double, running 5:07.6/10:59.8 and 4:24.6/9:33.3 respectively. Very impressive indoor times.

Also on Saturday, April 2nd, the University of North Dakota hosted its first meet at the new High Performance Center.** This new facility boasts a 300 meter mondo indoor track, a full-length turf football field inside the track, and adequate space for jumps and throws outside of the track area. It's truly a spectacular facility, and you should fully expect there to be more high school meets there over the next few years.

Beauty, eh?
Courtesy: valleynewslive.com

Asha Smith ran 2:14 in the 800 at state
a couple years back
Courtesy: watfordcitynd.com

Once outdoor got going, the girls started throwing down some great times. The first sub-2:20 800 was run by Asha Smith (Senior/Watford City) at the Bison-Miner Classic on Tuesday, April 12th, running 2:19.29. The first sub-5:00 1600 was run by Kelby Anderson (Junior/Bismarck Century) at the BPS at the Bismarck Bowl on Saturday, April 30th, running 4:59.18. Anderson's time barely missed out on the top ten all-time for Class A Girls. On top of  that, Ackley and Frolek have run 5:05.5 and 5:06.2, respecitvely. Get those three in a race!

The guys have been holding their own as well. At the Minot Carlson Invite on Thursday, April 14th, Sam Wilke (Senior/Bismarck St. Mary's) ran his second sub-1:59 800 time of the season, running 1:58.73. He now has three total and has been consistently the best 800 runner in the state this season. We also had the first sub-4:20 1600 clockings of the season at the River City Invite at the Community Bowl on Thursday, April 14. Leif Everson (Junior/Williston) ran 4:18.97 for the win, followed by Clausnitzer (see above) in 4:19.34. Everson's time places him only two seconds outside of top ten all-time. If you've noticed in all of these high schools posts that there are a lot of juniors running fast right now, you are right! The future indeed looks bright.

College/University Roundup:

The month of April brings two of the best track meets on the college circuit: the Stanford Invite and the Mt. SAC Relays. Both are accompanied by highly-competitive meets in nearby areas. Most schools make some kind of trip down to California in search of good competition and perfect weather. This year, like most years, did not disappoint.


Erin Teschuk (Winnipeg, MA, CA/NDSU) 4:15.30 1500 at Stanford April 1, 15:41 School Record in the 5k at Mt. Sac (Los Angeles area) April 14.

Brittany Brownotter (Bismarck High/NDSU) 17:02 5k at San Francisco on April 1.

Camron Roehl (Grand Forks Central/NDSU) 3:56.50 1500 (4:15.4  mile) April 22 on a windy day at NDSU.

Jaiden Schuette (Century/U-Mary) 4:40.98 1500 (5:05.8 mile) at Bryan Clay Invitational (Los Angeles area) April 14.

Lexi Zeis (Bismarck High/U-Mary) 16:38.16 School Record 5k at Bryan Clay Invitational (Los Angeles area) April 14. Moved up to #7 on the North Dakotan Women's 5k list.

Chris Jessop (Corvallis, MT/U-Mary) 31:30.37 School Record 10k at Mt. Sac (Los Angeles Area) April 14.

Sasha Hovind (Lisbon&Sargent Co./Northern State) 35:00.35 School Record 10k at Mt Sac (Los Angeles Area) April 14. Improved her #3 rankings on the North Dakotan Women's 10k list.

Madeline Strandemo (Fargo South/Minnesota) 10:03.52 steeplechase at Virginia Challenge April 22, which at the time placed her 5th in the D1 West Region standings.

Pro Roundup:

(I'd sure like to make this part longer someday)

Laura Roesler (Fargo South/Oregon/KIMbia Athletics) 2:00.72 800 FTW at Baylor's Michael Johnson Invitational on April 23. Her time was a track record and she won by 1.5 seconds over other professionals.

Remember high-school Laura Roesler
running 2:03 at the Olympic Trials?
Courtesy: gettyimages.com

Next month brings more high school meets (including the state meet!), more college meets (including conference meets!), and the Fargo Marathon. The weather is getting nice- get outside!
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*Yes, I converted for 2 mile to 3200 in the years before 1980.
**Full disclosure, I'm a student-athlete at UND. If this seems self-serving, that means you haven't seen the facility yet.