XC Poll #5: Boys Sit 3rd after EGF Win
EGF MEET-Boys Recap by Gavin Dorsey
After the cancellation of Red River’s annual trip to the Milaca Mega Meet, the Riders added a local race hosted by East Grand Forks Thursday. Due to flooding in the early morning of September 21st, the team was forced to stay home. The following week had previously been scheduled as a week for rest, but rather than spend two consecutive weeks not racing, the Riders instead were able to join the EGF Invitational. The meet was held at Lincoln Park.
Heading into the meet, there was some speculation on how well the Riders would perform. The previous day, the entire team competed in the Hoka One One Postal Nationals, a two-mile time trial at Cushman Field. The team is currently ranked 23rd in the nation. One day after running well in the time trial, the Riders raced exceptionally to win both the Varsity and Junior High titles while setting a whopping 22 new personal records out of 30 runners.
Sophomore Hunter McHenry returned to the first spot on the team for the first time since the Grand Forks Invite, placing second overall. McHenry set a 24 second PR, running an impressive time of 16:27. The time is currently the eighth fastest time in North Dakota for Class A. McHenry has not been ranked in the top ten of the Coaches Poll yet this season. He also won the Hoka time trial Wednesday with a time of 10:15.
McHenry said it felt great to finally get the big PR. After training all throughout the summer, he said he knew it was only time before he finally broke out.
“Once I got to the course, it was go time. I just went out there and raced,” said McHenry.
Freshman Matt Rongitsch also set a PR, dipping into the 16:30s for the first time in his career. Rongitsch placed fourth overall, running 16:39 to increase his personal record by nine seconds. The time is also a season best for Rongitsch by 15 seconds.
Sophomore Dameon Zenawick placed third for the team, becoming the fourth Red River athlete to run faster than 17 minutes while earning a 29 second PR. Zenawick placed sixth overall with a time of 16:51. Following Zenawick were juniors Broden Diederich (10th- 17:06) and Ryan Prusak (11th- 17:19), as well as senior Gavin Dorsey (16th- 17:42).
The next wave of Red River athletes followed in a pack. Freshman Jonah Dafoe joined the under-18:00 club after setting a new PR, the first time in two seasons he has done so in the 5K. Freshman Jake Jenkins and Sophomore Tanner Schiller were shortly behind, with both of them unleashing massive PRs. Jenkins (1 min 9 secs PR) ran a time of 18:05, while Schiller PR’d by 1 minute and 24 seconds to run 18:09. Freshman Grant Lelm also set a 3 second PR to run 18:10.
8th-grader Carter Rydland won his first career race in the Junior High division, with 8th-grader Micah Larsen-Schmidt taking second. 7th-grader Elijah Dafoe placed fifth, followed by 8th-graders Preston Diederich and Kael Berberich, who placed seventh and eighth. The middle school team scored only 23 points to win the team title.
The Riders will travel to Minot this Saturday for the Souris Valley Invitational. The team will get the chance to race against some top western competition. More importantly, the course is also the location of the North Dakota State Meet, held on October 26th.
EGF MEET-Girls Recap by Kylie Severson
Due to the Riders being unable to compete in the Milaca Mega Meet on Saturday, the 21st, the athletes were given another chance to race. EGF gladly allowed both Red River and Central to compete at their home meet on Thursday, the 26th. This meet actually took place on the home course which was a great chance for the runners to race on familiar grounds.
The meet was very small with a few class B schools from the Minnesota area so therefore, middle school girls and boys ran their race together. The race resulted in many monster PR’s. The first rider to cross the line was Ryleigh Kindelspire (grade 8) who finished with a time of 13:39 and chopped off 1:42 of her previous time. Kindelspire placed 5th overall. Brooke Dorsey (grade 7) was the next runner to finish. Dorsey PR’d by 1:27 and placed 6th overall. The next PR of the middle school girls was Emerson Byron (grade 9) who PR’d by 9.78 seconds from her previous 3k time. She finished 10th overall. Meredith McCarthy (grade 8), the PR queen, had yet again another huge PR. McCarthy PR’d by 44.49 seconds. The next PR was made by Eleece Rielly (grade 8). Rielly chopped down 22.37 seconds off of her previous time. Regan Gaukler (grade 8) also set a PR of 40.6 seconds. The last PR setter of the race was Selena Wu (grade 8) who PR’d by a whopping 1.27 mins.
The next race was the varsity girls race. Due to such impressive 3k times as middle schoolers, four 7th grade athletes were selected to race in the 5k to see how they would perform with a longer distance. These runners were Rylie Lelm, Addison Fargo, Brenna Shock, and Payton Bergeron. These girls performed exquisitely. There were 5 PR’s set by the varsity girls starting with Morgan Hartze. Hartze (grade 8) PR’d by 14.7 seconds creating a new time of 20:49. The next PR was set by Gracia Larsen-Schmidt (grade 11). Larsen-Schmidt finally broke 21:00 and PR’d by 37.77 seconds and now has a time of 20:56. Claire Lapp (grade 11) also PR’d by 5.4 seconds. The next PR goes to Sophie Lachance (grade 10) who set a new personal record of 41.5. Angelica Knudsen, another PR queen, chopped off yet again another huge PR of 54 seconds.
| 2019 NORTH DAKOTA HIGH SCHOOL COACHES CROSS COUNTRY POLL | |||
| 29 Coaches Voted in this weeks poll | |||
| Date: Sept 2nd, Poll #6 | |||
| Class A Boys: | Class A Girls: | ||
| Teams | Teams | ||
| 1 | Bismarck Century | 1 | Minot |
| 2 | Williston | 2 | West Fargo |
| 3 | GF Red River | 3 | Fargo Davies |
| 4 | Bismarck High | 4 | Bismarck Century |
| 5 | Jamestown | 5 | GF Central |
| Other teams receiving votes: Dickinson | Other teams receiving votes: | ||
| Individuals | Individuals | ||
| 1 | Sean Korsmo (Bismarck High) | 1 | Meghan Ford (Jamestown) |
| 2 | Brady Yoder (Dickinson) | 2 | Kelby Rinas (Mandan) |
| 3 | Jacob Knodle (WF Sheyenne) | 3 | Hayley Ogle (Watford City) |
| 4 | Micade Shumway (Williston) | 4 | Eleni Lovgren (Williston) |
| 5 | Gavin Hunt (Jamestown) | 5 | Hope Pringle (West Fargo) |
| 6 | Austin Wald (Bismarck Century) | 6 | Onnica Stansbury (Sheyenne) |
| 7 | Ben Anteau (Jamestown) | 7 | Jaelyn Ogle (Watford City) |
| 8 | Mason Kindel (Bismarck Century) | 8 | Anna Bernhardt (Shanley/OG) |
| 9 | Griffin House (Bismarck Century) | 9 | Mikayla Wiess (GF Central) |
| 10 | Aiden Jung (Dickinson) | 10 | Jadyn Guidinger (Legacy) |
|
Class B Boys: |
Class B Girls: |
||
| Teams | Teams | ||
| 1 | New Town | 1 | Rugby |
| 2 | Bowman County | 2 | Bowman County |
| 3 | Griggs County Central | 3 | Hillsboro/Central Valley |
| 4 | Hillsboro/Central Valley | 4 | Kindred |
| 5 | Thompson | 5 | Grafton |
| Other teams receiving votes: | Other teams receiving vote: New Town | ||
| Individuals | Individuals | ||
| 1 | Robert White (New Town) | 1 | Reagan Baesler (Hillsboro/Central Valley) |
| 2 | Chase Fossum (Hillsboro/Central Valley) | 2 | Jenna Soine (Hatton/Northwood/Larimore) |
| 3 | Noah Rolfe (Stanley) | 3 | Elise Ramberg (Langdon Area) |
| 4 | Patrick Wrigley (Shiloh Christian) | 4 | Hannah Westin (Shiloh) |
| 5 | Hunter Denault (Pembina Country North) | 5 | Quinn Neppl (Rugby) |
| 6 | Ian Busche (Bealuh/Hazen) | 6 | Norah Entzi (Edgeley Kulm) |
| 7 | Jacob Henderickson (Thompson) | 7 | Dreah Frolek (Sargent Central/Lidgerwood) |
| 8 | Brian Miller (Bowman County) | 8 | Brooklyn Bartsch (Rugby) |
| 9 | Owen Duttenheffer (Killdeer) | 9 | Jaci Fischer (Bowman County) |
| 10 | Jace Anderson (Killdeer) | 10 | Ally Goodmanson (Kindred) |