Riders Complete Busy Week
With snow and cold forcing the postponement of the Shanley Invite to Tuesday, May 2, last week turned into a busy one for the Red River Track and Field team. In total, the boys team split their squads on both Tuesday and Friday, with athletes competing at either the Shanley Invite or Larimore Invite on Tuesday and the West Fargo Packer Relays or the prestigious Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls, SD over the weekend. Beautiful weather greeted athletes at all meets and the Riders responded with a huge number of state qualifying performances, lifetime PR’s, and season bests.
Shanley Invite
Sophomore Carlos Martin got things started at the Shanley Invite by hitting a huge PR to qualify in the javelin. He ended up placing third behind the Ogren brothers to complete a 1-2-3 sweep for the RR Boys. He also placed second in the long jump and triple jump to finish with 22 points. Matching his point total was senior Tyler Enerson, who won both hurdle races and finish second in the 4×400 Relay. Enerson’s time in the 110 Hurdles of 14.96 was his first career performance under 15.00 and the first sub-15.00 clocking by a RR athlete since his older brother Ryan did so in 2014. Senior Devon Pope also had a strong meet, placing first in the triple jump and long jump and anchoring the 3rd place 4×100 team. His distance of 45’7.5 was an outdoor season best for 2017 and his long jump mark of 21’0.25 was the first time over 21’0 in his career.
An exciting development over the 2017 season has been the tremendous development of Coach Delmore’s jumpers. On Tuesday, the “worst” and shortest of our five high jumpers proved to be the best, with senior first-year jumpers Cody Robertson and Kishen Patel both clearing 5’10 to place first and third, respectively (both only stand about 5’6). Robertson won a lengthy five-round jump-off to take home the victory. The Riders now have seven athletes who have jumped 5’10 this season.
One of the biggest stories of the meet was the return of junior Thomas O’Halloran. With injuries wiping out his sophomore season, O’Halloran tested the waters last week at May-Port’s JV meet. Feeling 100% on Tuesday, he unleashed 1.5 years of cross-training and frustration into a state qualifying 200m time (23.23) and an impressive 52.40 400m, just missing qualifying. The day culminated with a thrilling 4x400m Relay, where Cody Robertson, George Nyanforh, O’Halloran, and Enerson went toe to toe with the powerful Fargo South Bruins, the defending state champions. The team finished just behind South, with all athletes running personal best splits and producing the best RR boys time (3:31.36) since 2013. A great finish to a great meet!
In the team race, the Riders finished 1st out of 10 teams.
1) Grand Forks Red River 214.5
2) Fargo South High School 162.5
3) West Fargo High School 126
4) Fargo North High School 117
5) Grand Forks Central 40
6) Shanley High School 30
7) Jamestown High School 26
8) Oak Grove High School 15
9) Valley City High School 11
10) Devils Lake High School 4
Larimore Invite
Athletes who did not travel to Shanley traveled to Larimore for a meet against area Class B teams. Sophomore Dawson Brandvold was the biggest point scorer, placing in both the javelin and discus. Jake Arason had the best individual placing, finishing third in the 3200 and breaking 11:00 for the first time this season. The boys finished fifth overall in a field of 13 teams.
West Fargo Packer Relays
Sunny skies, warm temperatures, and favorable sprinting winds brought out PR’s and season bests abound in West Fargo Friday. The biggest point scorer here was again sophomore Carlos Martin, who piled up 27 points. He won both the triple jump and long jump, placed third in the 110m Hurdles, and anchored the 4th place 4×200 Relay team. His mark of 21’7 in the long jump is a personal best, a new sophomore class school record, and the 9th best jump in school history. Having a huge day in the javelin was junior Seth Hanson, who improved by nearly 25’ to throw 174’8 and finish second. Sandwiched between Ty and Liam Ogren, the Riders once again placed 1-2-3 in the event. Ty Ogren thew 175’4, which is a season best and his second best lifetime throw. Ogren and Hanson sit #4 and #5 in ND, currently.
Other new qualifiers included senior Kishen Patel in the pole vault (12’6), sophomore Zack Topping in the 100 (11.36) and 200 (23.20), junior Tyler Burian in the 200 (22.90), and the 4×200 relay team of Topping, Benson, O’Halloran, and Martin.
However, the most exciting finish of the day was last event, the highly anticipated Thrower’s Relay. Behind a great anchor leg from Zach Gutterud, the RR thrower’s won the event for the first time in three years! Other members included the Ogren brothers and Mason Benefield.
Howard Wood Dakota Relays
The final event of the weekend was the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls, which annually attracts the most competitive athletes in the Upper Midwest. The team’s best finish was from Tyler Enerson, who placed second in the 110m Hurdles. His prelim time of 14.94 was a lifetime best. Peter Wysocki also ran a season best of 15.13, but just missed making the finals. Enerson also placed seventh in the 300 Hurdles, while Wysocki was 11th with a state qualifying time of 41.39. Devon Pope, the defending champion, wasn’t able to repeat as he placed fourth in the triple jump. Junior Dalton Byrne, after just missing the standard last year, was able to qualify in the 3200 with a new PR of 10:00.40. This is one of the finest run meets in the region and something athletes should definitely strive to compete at in the future!
Results from last week posted-CLICK HERE
Updated Top Marks List-CLICK HERE
PR’s/season bests from the boys and girls last week:
