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
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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.