RR/GFC Holds Inaugural Relay Carnival
The inaugural running of the Grand Forks Middle School/Junior Varsity Relay Carnival was a great success Monday. Solid performances were turned in by both the JV and MS athletes in a number of relay events not normally contested at regular track meets. In this non-traditional track and field meet, the focus switched from individual events to relays. All track events held were relay-style, with the exception of the 1600m, where, the top three times from each school were added together to form one overall time. In the field events, the top three heights/distances from each school were added together to form one overall height/distance. Due to the nature of this meet, the principles of teamwork, versatility, and fun were stressed above individual efforts. High School Varsity athletes from RR and GFC were given the responsibility of working the meet and they passed their test with flying colors.
The meet started off with the always-exciting 110m Shuttle Hurdle Relay, where the team of Tyler Burian, John Bakizuwabo, Zack Topping, and Brett Klefstad brought home the title in 1:15.34. This set the tone for the rest of the meet, which included relay wins in the 8x200m (Anderson, Schumacher, Hanson, Kovar, Klefstad, Berger, Flom, A. Martin-3:38.74), 1000m Swedish Relay (Horcacitas, Burian, Benson, Corcoran), Mid-Distance Medley (Dunham, Anderson, Sartwell, Byrne-5:19.14), 8x50m Shuttle (Solberg, Patel, Stenseth, Durka, Corcoran, Berger, Klefstad, Betz-58.34), and 4x400m (Topping, Robles, Walker, Horcacitas-3:55.34). The Riders also received team relay wins in the 1600m, where Dunham (4:41.00), Stricker (4:52.00), and Byrne (4:52.00) all posted PR’s or near PR’s to complete the 1-2-3 sweep. Other highlights included event wins from Patel in the Pole Vault (11’), Jake Arason-High Jump (4’8), and Bakizuwabo-Triple Jump (35’1). Schumacher (126’9), Klefstad (124’1), and Solberg (123’9) continue to show vast improvements in the javelin, where they finished 2-3-4. In the shot put, Zack Gutterud had a nice PR (41’3), which put himself into the Varsity Top 5.
Full results here.
Next up is the Packer Relays in West Fargo on Friday, May 6th. A smaller contingent will travel to the prestigious Howard Wood Relays in Sioux Falls, SD on Friday, where they will test their mettle against some of the finest competition in in the Upper Midwest.
