2018 Season Opens at Concordia
The Red River Roughriders kicked off the 2018 Track and Field season on St. Patrick’s Day at the Cobber Indoor Saturday. Two athletes brought home the much-coveted Cobber Track and Field shirts, given annually to event winners. Senior Dalton Byrne won the 3200m in a time of 10:35.08 to lead a 1-2-3-4-7 finish for the Riders. Also placing was senior Cole Stenseth (2nd-10:39.65), junior Jake Arason (3rd-11:01.39), junior Thomas Hugo (4th-11:06.27), and freshman Broden Diederich (7th-11:41.39). All athletes were members of RR’s EDC Championship Cross Country team this past fall. Byrne and Stenseth also joined with Zach Simon and Marcelles Sartwell to run 9:01.85 and place 3rd in the 4x800m Relay.
Also scoring big for the Riders was senior Pierson Painter (11.5 points) and sophomore Bryce Enerson (14.75 points). Both athletes were starters on the RR basketball team, which just finished their season at the state tournament. Painter won the high jump, clearing a lifetime best of 6’0. He also lead off the 3rd place 4×400 relay team with the team’s top split of 55.8. Enerson, last year’s Rookie of the Year, showed little signs of rust in his specialty events, the hurdles and high jump, placing 2nd (55mH-8.55) and 3rd (HJ-5’8), respectively.
Senior Tyler Burian (11 points) started the season strong with a 2nd place effort (24.08) in the 200m Dash. He also ran legs on the 3rd place 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams, recording the team’s top 200 split (23.9). Joining him on the 4×200 (1:39.77) was Zack Topping, Ethan Brandvold, and first-year track athlete Tyler Hoffarth. The 4×400 (3:51.00) consisted of Painter, Burian, Alessandro Kroeger, and Sartwell.
Other exciting performances came from the shot put ring, where seven of the nine athletes competing set new personal bests. Junior Grant Richtsmeier and sophomore Trent Herberg posted the largest improvements, both setting nearly five-foot PR’s. Sophomore Kaden Rohloff also started the year in fine form, matching his best pole vault from last year with a 3rd place clearance (12’0). Freshmen Erik Walker and Alex Hrabchak, in their first ever competition, cleared bars for the first time and placed, giving the Riders nine points in that event alone. Several of Dafoe’s milers ran big PR’s, most notably freshman Erik Stokke and senior Adan Cisneros.
In total, the Riders compiled 106.5 points, trailing only West Fargo (127) and Fargo North (121).
Most importantly, the meet served as an introduction to the sport for many newcomers and a baseline indicator for returners. Next week, the Riders will head to NDSU to compete at the State Indoor on Friday. Those who don’t compete Friday will have the EDC JV Indoor on Saturday morning.
Top Marks, Relay Splits, and Top Scores-CLICK HERE