June 1, 2016

Wolves howl at State Class B Track Meet

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

The Watford City varsity track teams capped off a tremendous season this past weekend at the 2016 North Dakota State Track and Field Meet with the girls team taking third place, while the boys team tied for eighth place.
For seniors Asha Smith and Ricki Lindley, the meet marked the end of their high school track careers. And they made the most of it with each coming away with a state title. Lindley repeated as the State Triple Jump Champion with a leap of 37’10”, while Smith left her mark at the State Class B Track Meet winning the 800 meter run with a time of 2:15.62, while running the second leg of the Wolves’ winning 3,200 meter relay team.
Joining Smith on the 3,200 meter relay team that set a new W.C.H.S. school record with a time of 9.49.24 was Morgan Rolfsrud, Hayley Ogle, and Kayla Ogle.
“Wow, we had some fun,” stated Greg Brown, girls head coach, on his team’s third place finish at State. “We  took Carrington down to the 1,600 meter relay and we had two very exciting days, coming home with three state championships.”
In addition to those three first place finishes, the Wolves’ girls team also picked up a second place finish from Mikka Haugeberg in the pole vault, and a third place finish in the 1,600 meter relay.
“All of our girls ran awesome, with many reaching their personal best times, jumps of the year,” stated Brown. “We will definitely miss Asha and Ricki, but I can see many exciting things happening in our program in the upcoming years. I saw major improvement from our athletes throughout the year, and as always, Watford City always turns out competitors.”
Lindley and Smith wrapped up their final appearances at the State Class B Track Meet with fourth place finishes in the 400 meter dash and 1,600 meter runs, respectively, while Lindley also ran the first leg of the Wolves’ third place finishing 1,600 meter relay team.
While the boys team didn’t have any state champions or state runners-up, Dave Gumke was very pleased with his team’s eighth place finish.
“We may have finished in eighth place as a team out of 44 teams, but we missed getting a fifth place trophy by 1.5 points,” states Gumke. “The boys had a great weekend and they all performed very well and stepped up their game even more from the region meet last week.”
Kyle Cook capped off his high school track career running a personal best in the 800 meter dash to finish in sixth place and ran a leg on the fifth place 1,600 meter relay team and the eighth place 3,200 meter relay team.
Cole McGorman, who placed third in the high jump with a leap of 6’0” was the highest place finisher for the Watford City boys team.
“Rait Elliot and Connor Dennis ran very well in their hurdle races, both improving their times,” stated Gumke. “Jackson Faller made the finals in the discus and just missed placing by one inch.”
Elliot and Dennis raced a neck-to- neck race in the 110 meter hurdles with Elliot edging Dennis for fourth place, while Dennis claimed fourth place in the 300 meter hurdles.
“I am proud of how the guys competed this weekend,” stated Gumke. “I have athletes on this team that step up in big meets, and that makes them fun to coach. I know that my athletes gave their best effort, and that effort helps the winning and placing to take care of itself.”
Two relays, the 1,600 and the 3,200, stand out in Gumke’s mind of how well his athletes responded at this state meet.
“We improved our 1,600 meter  season best time of 3:40.38 by nearly seven seconds to place fifth with a time of 3:33.66,” stated
Gumke. “But the biggest improvement came in the 3,200 meter relay where we entered the meet ranked 13th with a time of 8:58.08. We knocked nearly 14 seconds off of our time to place eighth with a time of 8:44.49. Both of the relays had to try to place from the second heat, so they were racing against the clock.”
2016 State Track & Field - Girls Division
Watford City individual results:
200 Meter Dash: 4. Ricki Lindley, 26.30.
800 Meter Run: 1. Asha Smith, 2:15.62; 10. Kayla Ogle, 2:25.03.
1,600 Meter Run: 4. Asha Smith, 5:07.56; 5. Kayla Ogle, 5:08.92.
3,200 Meter Run: 4. Kayla Ogle, 11.24.32.
100 Meter Hurdles: 8. Bridget Allex, 16.77; 11. Kaitlyn Nokes, 17.68.
300 Meter Hurdles: 15. Kaitlyn Nokes, 51.60.
400 Meter Relay: 16. (Mikka Haugeberg, Ashleigh Voll, Bridget Allex, Lindsay Peterson), 53.12.
800 Meter Relay: 18. (Mikka Haugeberg, Morgan Rolfsrud, Bridget Allex, Lindsay Peterson), 1:53.77.
1,600 Meter Relay: 3. (Ricki Lindley, Lindsay Peterson, Mikka Haugeberg, Asha Smith), 4:08.40.
3,200 Meter Relay: 1. (Morgan Rolfsrud, Asha Smith, Hayley Ogle, Kayla Ogle), 9:49.24.
Triple Jump: 1. Ricki Lindley, 37’10”.
Pole Vault: 2. Mikka Haugeberg, 10’6”.
High Jump: 13. Tia McGorman, 4’9”; Kaitlyn Nokes, NH.
2016 State Track & Field - Boys Division
Watford City individual results:
800 Meter Run: 6. Kyle Cook, 2:03.15.
1,600 Meter Run: 11. Raehs Puetz, 4:41.44.
110 Meter Hurdles: 4. Rait Elliot, 15.35; 5. Connor Dennis, 15.54.
300 Meter Hurdles: 4. Connor Dennis, 40.75; 13. Carter Zenz, 42.99.
400 Meter Relay: 16. (Carter Zenz, Rait Elliot, Kyle Cook, Connor Dennis), 46.22.
1,600 Meter Relay: 5. (Kyle Cook, Carter Zenz, Keegan Kaczmar, Connor Dennis), 3:36.66.
3,200 Meter Relay: 8. (Raehs Puetz, Braedon Gumke, Keegan Kaczmar, Kyle Cook), 8:44.49.
High Jump: 3. Cole McGorman, 6’0”.
Discus: 9. Jackson Faller, 128’4”.
Long Jump: 14. Carter Zenz, 19’0.25”.
Pole Vault: 12. Braedon Gumke, 11’0”; Devin Schmitz, NH.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER