On October 21st and 22nd, the North Dakota State Cross Country Meet was held at Parkhurst Campground/Pipestem Reservoir just north of Jamestown, ND. With beautiful weather in the 50s and 60s with light wind, the times were fast, the course was good, and the atmosphere was great.
In the Friday Class B races, the boys raced first and Bowman County stole the show. Scoring a dominating 18 team points, they placed 5 of the top 6 runners, broken up from a perfect score only by Hillsboro/Central Valley's Christian Brist. It was their third consecutive team title. Second place team was Kindred with 111 points, just barely beating New Town with 112. Bowman Co also had top overall performer in Austin Wanner, whose time of 16:05 was only five seconds faster than his teammate Caleb Sarsland. The time was 18 seconds faster than last year's winning time on the same course.
For the Class B girls, we had repeat winners in the individual and team. 9th grader Brynn Hanson from Des-Lacs Burlington/Lewis and Clark won her second consecutive individual state title, running 18:57 and finishing 10 seconds ahead of second placer finisher Addie Miller of Killdeer (also in 9th grade). Hanson's time was about 30 seconds faster than her state title last year. In the team battle, Rugby won their fourth consecutive team title, scoring 89 points to Bowman County's 118, taking away Bowman Co's chance at sweeping the team titles.
Saturday was the Class A races. For the boys, Williston continued the pattern of repeat team champions, winning their second consecutive state title with 46 points, followed closely by Bismarck High with 64 points. In a senior-heavy field, Brady Korsmo pulled off the victory, running an impressive time of 15:28, 8 seconds ahead of Fynn Krenz of Williston.
In the Class A girls race, Williston's girls team won their third consecutive state title, this time with 93 points, barely edging out Grand Forks Red River with 104 points. The individual race was not as close, with senior Jaelyn Ogle dominating the field, winning her first state cross country title by 45 seconds in a time of 18:15.
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| Credit: Tom Mix, NDHSAA Media Specialist |
Way back in 2017, before anybody had ever heard of COVID, the state course was not yet at Jamestown every year, and New Town was still dynastic, a 7th-grader from Bowman County placed 81st place at state cross country, running 19:23 and scoring as the fifth runner for fifth place Bowman County. Five years later, and that same runner- senior Austin Wanner- finished first place individually at the state cross country meet, helping his team to their third consecutive state title. His team scored 18 points, a level of dominance not often seen at the state level. For Austin, it was the culmination of years of hard work.
In 2018, he placed 36th with a time of 18:16.
In 2019, he was 16th with a time of 17:28.
In 2020, he was 12th with a time of 17:18.
In 2021, he was 4th with a time of 16:39.
This year, he won with a time of 16:04.
The progression here shows commitment to the process and a refusal to give up. He owns track pr's of 2:00 in the 800, 4:30 in the 1600, and 9:49 in the 3200. He loves running, he's worked hard, and now he finally gets to celebrate that individual championship in state cross country. Here is a question-and-answer interview with Austin Wanner of Bowman County.
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Congrats on your victory! Now that you’ve had some time to decompress and take a step away
from state cross country, how do you feel? This was your first state title, right?
Thank you! I feel great. Knowing that all the work you put in finally paid off is all you can ask for.
Our whole team had a perfect day, so I am still over the moon for them. Yes, this is my first
individual title, but I also have the three cross country team titles and a 4x800 title last track
season.
At some point, whether it was last year, this summer, or this fall, you probably realized that
winning state cross country was something you had the ability to do. When was that point? How
did it affect your outlook on this season?
Winning a state title was my dream since 7th Grade, but it was just that, a dream. I wasn’t doing
anything at that time to prepare, it was just something I knew would be cool to achieve. Then I
saw Brian Miller win a title, I knew it would be feasible. It wasn’t until I started summer training
that the dream turned into a goal. After that point, I wrote it in my running journal every day.
Take us through your title-winning race. What was your strategy going in? Did you follow it? Any
surprises?
The Jamestown course is very memorable, so when I knew I wanted to win, I would visualize all
the time. I knew exactly where I would want to make my move when the day finally came, so I
was confident in my race plan. When we were discussing our plans with the coach, the team’s
consensus was for everyone to get out hard. We had a great last few weeks of training, so we
were confident in our abilities. I knew we were going to get out fast, but I still wanted to stay
with the race plan I was visualizing for so long. When the gun went off, Caleb Sarsland had
different plans. The race strung out instantly. We went out way faster than I ever thought we
could, so my race plan was thrown out of the window. I was just trying to hold on the last mile,
and if you know Jamestown course, you would know that it’s not a great position to be in at that
point in the course. It wasn’t pretty, but I finished.
What’s the biggest barrier you had to overcome this season?
I’d be lying if I gave this inspirational story about overcoming some major adversity. I had a few
niggles throughout the season, and at the time they were scary, but, in hindsight, they were all
negligible. The whole training block went as good as I could have hoped.
One thing I did struggle with was nerves. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself all season.
What helped me though was a message I received from Bowerman athlete Josh Thompson [editor's note: Bowerman TC is a professional distance running team in Oregon]. I got
to talk with him on a Bowerman group run over the summer, and when my nerves were at their
worst, I asked him what he does to help with his nerves. One thing he said to me was “What
always helps me stay calm and focused is my training. The phrase I love that I remind myself
constantly before every race is ‘if you are prepared, you shouldn’t fear.’” I used this mantra not
just before races, but anytime my nerves got bad.
Your team, Bowman County, won their third consecutive state championship- this one in
DOMINATING fashion, scoring only 18 points. What does it mean to you to win a team title this
season as a senior?
Yeah! We knew we were going to be solid this season, but I had no idea how good we’d be. I
believe that cross country is a team sport, so winning this title my senior year means more than
any other accolade could ever mean to me.
Help us get an idea of what it takes to win state as a team. What mindset do you and your
teammates have? What’s the atmosphere at practice? Where does success like this come from?
From the first day of practice, the goal was the state title, so the mindset was always reaching
for that goal. We know what we have isn’t guaranteed, so we always keep each other
accountable and push each other to do one more rep during workouts. We joke around and
have fun, or “loosey goosey” as our coach calls it, but when it’s time to work, we put our game
faces on.
From what I can tell, it doesn’t seem that you lost to a North Dakota Class B Runner this season,
but many times you found yourself in the mix with Class A boys or South Dakota runners. How
important was it for you to get to race faster and deeper competition? What does it feel like to
be ranked #1, but then show up at a meet with the Williston boys?
I try not to worry about who’s class A or class B. A race is a race. But I think being able to mix it
up with other runners we usually wouldn’t in the post season gives us great competition we
normally wouldn’t be able to see. I wish I would’ve been able to mix it up with the front guys a
little more, but that wasn’t how we set up our season. As far as the team results go, it’s good to
keep us reaching for something. It can get to someone’s head if you go to smaller meets and
easily win every week. It shows us that there’s always a bigger fish.
This year your team made the trip up to Grand Forks for the inaugural border battle. What did
you think of the meet?
Hands down, it was the best meet I’ve ever ran at. We rarely, if ever, have an easier week to
prepare for regular season meets, but for this meet, we were able to simulate what we would
do for state, so it was a perfect dress rehearsal. Everything about the meet seemed to run
perfectly. The course was great, the weather was great, and the drumlines were great. I also
loved that the lead ‘cart’ was a bike. If the state learns at least one thing from the meet it’s the
bikes.
What motivates you in practice to keep pushing, even when you are ranked #1?
For most of the season, I wasn’t, and I preferred it that way. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have
ever been ranked #1. The goal for the season was the state title, not to be ranked #1, so it didn’t
affect my motivation.
Do you have any plans after graduation? Are you interested in running at the college level?
100%.
I don’t know where yet, but I know I want to continue competing. I have a lot more to give to
the sport. I’m talking with a few coaches and have some visits on the calendar, but nothing is set
in stone yet.
[editor's note: On November 9th, NDSU Track and Field announced via social media that Austin signed with them. You can see their announcement on twitter here.]
What is your background in sports? Did you start running at a young age, or is it relatively new?
My family was always involved in running. My parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all ran in high
school, so I knew I was going to be a runner too. I was doing elementary mile races since 4th
grade, but I didn’t start training until 7th grade.
Talk a little bit about your training. What kind of routes and workouts does Bowman County do?
Do you have a favorite workout?
Our team runs relatively low mileage. I peaked at 40 miles a week in season, but the team
peaked at 35, and this was a jump from what we normally do. Some of our key workouts are
800-meter, 1000-meter, and 1-mile repeats. We usually rotate between those three, so we
don’t have some secret workout, our success comes from the work we put in.
We run most of mileage and even some workouts on a long stretch of dirt road we call cemetery
road, not because it’s deadly, but because it’s by the cemetery. It’s our version of the famous
Hawley Road.
Any plans to race at a regional meet in cross country, or is your season over?
I’m planning to run NXR, but we usually don’t take the race too seriously, and training hasn’t
been ideal either, so I’ll show up to NXR to have a good time.
Any plans for a winter sport, or is it time to focus on track?
Probably not. After NXR, I’ll take some time off and gear up for track season
Speaking of track, any early thoughts about what you might want to accomplish during track this
year?
There are a few records I’m eyeing…
What is running to you? Why do you do it?
It started as something that I just knew I was going to do. Since my parents and other family
members ran, I knew I was going to run too. As I stuck with it though, it has become a passion. I
couldn’t imagine my life without running.
What’s your favorite place (so far) to run in North Dakota?
I need to go and run different places around the state eventually, my scope is pretty limited. So far, I
would have to say cemetery road in Bowman. It has the most elevation gain in the area and the
scenery is beautiful. I’m glad I like running there, since we spend most of our time on that road.
Do you have any North Dakota runners that you look up to? What about college or professional
athletes? Who has inspired you?
I look up to so many people. As far as local athletes, I really look up to Brian Miller and Alex
Bartholomay. Since they were both Bowman athletes, I would look up to their achievements and
think to myself, “hey, I can do that too.”
I also follow professional running very closely, so there are a ton of people who I look up to. One of
the biggest inspirations to me is Eliud Kipchoge. His no human is limited slogan has always been a
huge motivator for me. People like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Cooper Teare, Cole Hocker, and Grant
Fisher are also heroes to me. Josh Thompson is another person I really admire. Like I said, him taking
time out of his day and giving me advice when I needed it and checking up on my season was so cool
to see.
Can you offer up any advice you’ve learned along the way to people who might be interested in
cross country?
You have to be obsessed. Whatever your goal is, always have it in your mind. You have to live and
breathe the goal. Obsession will beat talent 100 percent of the time.
Thank you Austin for taking the time to answer some questions and share with us what it means to be a state champion! Best of luck moving forward!
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