Riders Sharpen Up for East Region
Radke/Orvik Classic
The Radke/Orvik Classic rotates every year between Minot and Fargo South High School. In recent years, the meet has switched to true team scoring, where the emphasis is placed on overall team depth. Each school is allowed to enter only three athletes in each event and every competitor scores. On a cloudy and windy day at the Gelaine Orvik Track Complex, the Roughriders amassed 582.5 points, good enough for third place. The Magicians of Minot won the meet, edging the Fargo Davies Eagles.
Team Results:
Men – Varsity – Team Rankings – 19 Events Scored
1) Minot High School 631
2) Fargo Davies High School 628
3) Grand Forks Red River HS 582.5
4) West Fargo High School 566.5
5) Grand Forks Central HS 375.5
6) Fargo South High School 356
7) Mandan High School 353.5
Scoring Leaders Continue to Climb
The ongoing scoring battle between junior Bryce Enerson and seniors Brett Klefstad and Jake Arason continued at the Classic, with all three athletes hitting double digits. Enerson lead the way, scoring 16 points. His top performance was the 110 hurdles, where he crossed the line in first place at 14.98 seconds. The mark moves him into a tie for #9 on the storied RRHS All-Time hurdle lists. In 2019, he is ranked #1 in the East and #3 in ND. He also placed fourth in the high jump (5’6) and eighth in the 300 hurdles (42.44) seconds). Klefstad also impressed, placing second in the javelin with a new PR of 174’4. That performance is ranked #2 in the East and #6 in ND. Arason placed first in the mile (4:39.21) in windy conditions, while also running a leg on the fifth-place 4×400 relay team to score 11 points. Senior Zack Topping also had a fine day on the track, placing fifth in both the 100 (11.31-season best) and 200 (23.10-PR). A pleasant surprise was the 4×200 relay team of Nate Pressnell, Nate Hollingshead, Tanner Bernhardson, and Michael Nottestad. Due to some slick relay exchanges and unfortunate disqualifications, the team greatly outperformed their seed and placed second in 1:37.51.
EDC JV Outdoor
A group of athletes traveled to Fargo Davies Saturday morning to defend their EDC JV title. The group was successful, as the Riders dominated the meet.
Team Results:
Men – Junior Varsity – Team Rankings – 17 Events Scored
1) Grand Forks Red River HS 189.083
2) Fargo Davies High School 122.5
3) West Fargo High School 109.833
4) Grand Forks Central HS 98.3333
5) Fargo South High School 63.25
6) West Fargo Sheyenne HS 39
A Bright Future
Perhaps most exciting about the EDC JV team victory was the performance of the Class of 2023. Nine 8th graders competed Saturday. Of the team’s 189 points, nearly 121 were scored entirely by athletes who attend Schroeder or South Middle School. Also encouraging was the fact that points were scored across all events areas. Talent abounds in distance, sprint, jump, hurdle, and throwing events. Jonah Dafoe was the top point scorer (19 pts), placing first in the 800 (2:22.84), fifth in the high jump (5’0), and fourth in the 1600 (5:10.87). Fellow classmates Lukas Heydt and Mason Reynolds both scored 17.5 points, followed by Carter Byron and Matt Rongitsch, who scored 16 points. All athletes are 8th graders. Distance proved to be the most dominant event group Saturday. In the 1600, the Riders placed 1st (Rongitsch-5:04.95), 2nd (Gavin Dorsey-5:07.12), 3rd (Broden Diederich-5:07.41), 4th (Dafoe-5:10.87), and 7th (Jake Jenkins-5:27.09). In the 800, Dafoe (1st-2:22.84) edged Rongitsch (3rd-2:23.29), Dorsey (4th-2:26.68), and Jenkins (5th-2:27.63).
EDC JV Outdoor Point Scorers
1 19.00 Dafoe, Jonah 8
2* 17.50 Heydt, Lukas 8
2* 17.50 Reynolds, Mason 8
4* 16.00 Byron, Carter 8
4* 16.00 Rongitsch, Matt 8
6 14.50 Dorsey, Gavin 11
7 10.75 Panda, Om 10
8* 10.00 Rowekamp, Reis 8
8* 10.00 Larson, Tyler 10
10* 9.00 Walker, Erik 10
10* 9.00 Arason, Logan 8
12 7.50 Diederich, Broden 10
13 7.00 Herberg, Trent 11
14 6.00 Jenkins, Jake 8
15 5.75 Narum, Dylan 10
16 5.25 Hall, Abram 9
17 3.83 Tchomakhidze, Ted 10
18 2.00 Richtsmeier, Grant 12
19 1.50 Severson, Caleb 8
20 1.25 Reilly, Owen 9
21 1.00 Gillespie, Mason 9
Zimney Last Chance
Beautiful weather finally hit on meet day for the Riders. With meet namesake and former RR head coach Bob Zimney in attendance, the Riders racked up significant points to trounce the field and roll to the team title.
Team Results:
Men – Team Rankings – 19 Events Scored
1) Red River 335.333
2) Grand Forks Central 101.833
3) Grafton 60
4) Larimore 50
5) Thompson 48.3333
6) Nelson County 34
7) Pembina County North 32
8) Drayton/Valley-Edinburg 30
9) May-Port CG 27.5
10) Hatton-Northwood 12
11) Park River/Fordville-Lankin 4
Juniors Defeat Seniors in Thrilling Battle
The most exciting race of the meet, and perhaps the season, was the much-hyped Grade Level 4×100 Battle. After some friendly smack-talking on the bus after the Fargo Classic, it was decided that an all-junior team would square off against a senior-laden squad at the Last Chance. The seniors took the early lead with lead-off leg Topping getting the baton to Austin Oehlke in short order. But a smooth exchange between Keandre Anderson and Brady Dvorak kept the juniors in the hunt. After third-leg specialist Ethan Brandvold almost took a tumble for the juniors rounding the curve, senior Nate Hollingshead held strong and found Klefstad, senior anchor, in front. However, junior anchor Bryce Enerson would not be denied. He chased down his fellow football and basketball teammate to edge the seniors at the line. Final time was 44.87 for the juniors and 45.00 for the seniors. Not only were both of these times the two fastest of the year for the team, but both times were also under the state qualifying standard of 45.44. Confirmed by Zimney and Ken Hallgrimson, the two original boys head coaches and the team’s biggest fans, this was the first time in school history that the boys ran two separate state-qualifying relays in the same race.
In the battle for the season scoring title, defending scoring champion Enerson has taken charge.
2019 RR Boys Scoring Leaders (as of 5/16/19)
1 180.83 Enerson, Bryce 11
2 161.50 Klefstad, Brett 12
3 144.50 Arason, Jake 12
4 100.25 Anderson, Keandre 11
5 82.00 Sartwell, Marcelles 12
6 74.00 Rohloff, Kaden 11
7 72.75 Topping, Zack 12
8 70.50 McHenry, Hunter 9
9 62.25 Simon, Zach 12
10 56.75 Abdi, Mustafe 10
Johnson Puts on Display
Entering the Last Chance Meet, senior Cade Johnson had a PR of 45’4.5 in the shot put. With a monster performance Monday, Johnson added 3.5 feet to that total when he hit 48’11. In the process, he also added State Qualifier to his resume. He is currently ranked #2 in the EDC. He also hit a big toss in the javelin (2nd-159’4), although the Track Gods weren’t quite as forgiving here, leaving him eight inches short of the qualifying standard of 160’0.
4×4 Relay Split-Taking Successful
In the final chance to really test the coach’s trigger fingers, Coach Bakke entered eight 4×400 teams Monday. All 32 splits were taken, with help from Dr. Arason. This was a fine performance, but still off the program PR achieved at the 2018 Indoor Dual when 45 splits were taken in the 4×300 relay. A number of new athletes demonstrated an open-mind and team-first attitude by running the 4×400 Monday. This was fun to see.
4×4 Splits at the Last Chance
1* 52.90 S F — Abdi, Mustafe 10
1* 52.90 S F — Anderson, Keandre 11
3 53.80 S F — Sartwell, Marcelles 12
4 54.20 S F — Yahye, Mohamud 12
5 55.00 S F — Arason, Jake 12
6 56.39 S F — Pressnell, Nate 12
7* 56.60 S F — Brandvold, Ethan 11
7* 56.60 S F — Tabor, Nate 12
9 56.70 S F — Dvorak, Brady 11
10 56.80 S F — McHenry, Hunter 9
11 57.30 S F — Oehlke, Austin 12
12 57.60 S F — Simon, Zach 12
13 58.30 S F — Zenawick, Dameon 9
14 59.52 S F — LaFountain, Kellen 8
15 1:00.68 S F — Prusak, Ryan 10
16 1:00.80 S F — Heydt, Lukas 8
17 1:02.30 S F — Hall, Abram 9
18 1:02.50 S F — Erickson, Justin 11
19 1:02.70 S F — Rongitsch, Matt 8
20 1:03.10 S F — Dorsey, Gavin 11
21 1:03.80 S F — Narum, Dylan 10
22 1:04.90 S F — Nelson, Isaak 12
23 1:05.70 S F — Schall, Isaac 9
24* 1:05.80 S F — Diederich, Broden 10
24* 1:05.80 S F — Dafoe, Jonah 8
26 1:05.89 S F — Jenkins, Jake 8
27 1:06.80 S F — Panda, Om 10
28 1:07.20 S F — Stokke, Erik 10
29 1:08.70 S F — Ghaley, Sujit 9
30 1:11.90 S F — Gillespie, Mason 9
31 1:13.40 S F — Reilly, Owen 9
32 1:17.83 S F — Sollund, Dylan 10
Meet Results-CLICK HERE
Updated Point Totals and Top Marks-CLICK HERE
Meet Photos-CLICK HERE
The postseason is here for the Roughriders. On Friday, the boys will head back to Fargo South for the East Region Meet. Any athlete who places in the top-six in his/her event, or those who meet state qualifying standards, will advance to the State Meet the following week in Bismarck. The meet kicks off at 2:00 PM Friday.
As always, you can follow the team on Twitter (@RRTFXC) and Instagram (@rrtfxc).