Riders Split Squads across Dakotas
For the first time in recent memory, the Red River Boys split their squads and competed in two different meets last Friday and Saturday. Most of the team traveled to West Fargo for the Packer Relays. Hot temperatures and strong winds hampered many athletes’ performances, although the team competed hard. Leading the charge was freshman phenom Carlos Horcacitas, who is putting together one of finest freshman seasons in Red River Track and Field history. Horcacitas continued his consistent horizontal jumping season, with yet another competition over 20 feet (20’5.25). He is inches away from qualifying here and narrowly missed qualifying in the 110 Hurdles by only .05 seconds (4th-16.09). In the triple jump, he used a favorable tailwind to extend his freshman record to 43’7 in a 2nd Place effort. Also performing well at the Packer Relays was Carter Buelow, who improved his discus mark to 132’1.5 in 7th and placed 2nd in the shot put with a 49’7 heave. Ty and Liam Ogren continued to battle each other for Ogren Household Javelin Supremacy, with Ty regaining the crown (5th-156’3/6th-154’8). The 4×800 Relay team of Isaiah Stricker, Marcelles Sartwell, Cole Stenseth, and Noah Quidera scored the team’s remaining points in a 7th Place finish.
Full results here.
While a majority of the team fought the wind in West Fargo, a smaller contingent headed even further south to Sioux Falls for the 91st Annual Howard Wood Dakota Relays. Held over two days at Howard Wood Stadium, the Dakota Relays features over 3,000 athletes competing in Middle School, High School, and University divisions and includes some of the finest competition in the Upper Midwest. Devon Pope entered the meet tied for 2nd in the Platinum Leaderboard Triple Jump standings (top mark in ND/SD) at 44’3. After waiting through the first 6 flights, Devon finally got a chance to jump in the 7th flight and wasted no time in making a statement. On his first jump, Devon bounded to a massive PR of 45’5.75. The jump promptly put an end to any other athlete’s dreams of victory, as the rest of the competition tried valiantly but couldn’t surpass the 45’ barrier. Devon added two other 44’ plus jumps in the competition to further cement his status as one of the premier triple jumpers in the Upper Midwest.
The 110 Hurdles featured preliminary heats on Friday. Mo Kamara (15.67) and Tyler Enerson (15.61) both ran well to move on to the semi-finals. Peter Wysocki, one of the meet’s top seeds, was the victim of an unfortunate multi-athlete hurdle crash and a subsequent disqualification.In the semi-finals, Mo used his unparalled explosivness to turn heads as he sped to the early lead in his heat. He would finish in 2nd in a lifetime of PR of 15.12 and advance to the finals. Tyler improved here (15.59) but just missed making the finals. In the Saturday finals, Mo once again bolted to the early lead over the first four hurdles. However, the taller athletes managed to pull away slightly reaching the 8th, 9th, and final barrier . Mo kept up his rhythm and finished in 4th (15.16), an impressive accomplishment considering the accomplished field. His 15.12 time currently sits 4th in ND, with Peter’s 15.04 performance from the Dual still #2. Other highlights on Friday included Kassim Nsibirwa’s 11.41 performance in the 100, which qualifies him for state in that event.
As the sun set on Friday, the wind subsided and created nearly perfect conditions for the 3200. Ty Boucher and Ben Hutchison both took advantage here, with both athletes hitting new PR’s and Ty placing 4th (9:39.37) and Ben 11th (9:47.80). Ty’s performance is currently #4 in ND and #3 All-Time at RRHS, while Ben sits #7 in ND and #7 All-Time in school history.
