The Class B track season will come to an end today, May 23 at the state meet in Bismarck.

Rugby has qualified a number of athletes, and figures to place high in a handful of events. Benson County is also sending a number of athletes and stands a good chance of placing in some of those events.

Here’s a few questions.

1. Can Rugby’s Bryant Halvorson and Dylan Yoder defend their state titles?

Halvorson, who won the long jump last year, enters the meet with the top jump, going 22-11.5 – over a foot further than the next competitor. The senior is also ranked 10th in the triple jump, an event he placed in last year. He has also qualified in the 100 and 200 meters. He will likely compete in two open evens and two relays, or just the long jump and three relays.

Yoder, who won the 1600 meters last year, entered with the sixth fastest time. Perhaps his best chance at title will come in the 800 meters, where he has the third best time.

2. Can Rugby’s Ashley Salwey and Sydney Kraft and Benson County’s Sharisa Yri win individual titles?

The odds are good.

Salwey, a senior, enters the meet with the fastest time in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles. She also has the fifth fastest time in the 200 meters; sixth fastest in the 400; and eighth fastest in the 100, but its unlikely she will compete in those events, focusing on the relays.

Kraft, a freshman, has the best time in the 800 and 1600 meters and second best in the 3200 meters.

Yri, a junior from Maddock, has the best long jump entering the meet – over a foot further – than the next competitor. She is also has the second best jump in the triple jump. And on the track she ran the fifth best time in the 100 meters and 12th fastest in the 200 meters.

3. Can Alyssa Anderson continue the Anderson tradition?

It’s unfair to compare Leeds seventh grader Alyssa Anderson to her two older sisters – Krista and Lindsay – but she so far she has the makings of a standout track athlete for Benson County. Alyssa enters the meet with the best time in the 3200 meters and third-best in the 1600 meters.

4. Can all four of Rugby’s boys relays place?

For the second straight season, Rugby’s boys were able to qualify all four relays by time. This season the team has a realistic chance of placing at state in all four. The 1600 and 3200 meter relays perhaps is the best opportunity. Rugby has the second fastest time in the 1600 and fifth best in the 3200. The team has the fifth-best in the 800 and ninth in the 400 meters.

5. Who are the leading candidates for a breakout meet?

On the boys side, it is Rugby sophomore Eric Kuntz. He’s had quite a spring, and has qualified in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, the pole vault and triple jump. The 110 meter hurdles. He enters with the third-best pole vault and third-fastest time in the 110 hurdles.

On the girls side it is Benson Co. eighth grader Sara Schwanke. She is ranked fourth in the 1600 meters and fifth in the 3200 meters. She ran both events last year at state, but did not finish. She will also run a leg of the 3200 meter relay.