The Rugby Boys Track and Field Team took second place with 60 points at the NDSU Indoor Invitational on Saturday, March 26. They were just five points behind the first place team, Lisbon, from the southeast corner of the state.

Only 14 of the 42 boys who joined the Rugby Track Team this spring participated at NDSU. Nine of the team members are seniors playing for their last season of their high school careers.

Senior Eric Kuntz won first place in the long jump, pole vault, 60 M hurdles, and third place in the triple jump. Levi Schaan, another returning senior, brought home a second place finish in the long jump, ninth place in the triple jump, and attempted the high jump. Senior Garrett Thompson finished in 5th place in the 3200 M run. Erik Wangler brought home a 7th place in 1600 M run, and 8th place in the 800 M run.Riley Olsen finished in 7th place for two events, high jump and long jump. He also participated in the 60 M dash. Josh Tank placed 8th in two events, triple jump, and the 60 M hurdles. Tank placed ninth in pole vault along with Jason Goetz. Nigel Hageness brought home a ninth place in the 60 M dash. Hageness along with Chris Hamilton, Josh Tank, and Riley Olson finished in 6th place in the 4×200 Relay. Eric Burns, Chris Hamilton, Josh Michels, Jaden Haman, Steve Mudra, Zach Thompson, all participated in events but did not place.

Several boys participated in the state competition last spring and are back to compete in the season this year with another chance at state. Levi Schaan, Josh Tank, Kyle Volk, Erik Wangler, Nigel Hageness and Jarrett Lovcik are some of those.

It’s a little early in the season to start predicting what will happen, according to Coach Scott Grochow. Last year the Rugby Boys were State Champions and will be looking to defend their title.

“We can cover a lot of events with the athletes that are out for track,” said Grochow. “We need more depth and we need to get better at these events.”

The team’s main goal is to do well in regionals and go to state. The Rugby boys and girls teams have done very well in the past three years at state competition. They hope to continue to do well again this year, but a lot of hard work needs to be done between now and the end of May.

The season promises to be an interesting one and it always helps if fans turn out to cheer the athletes on.

The athletes are scheduled to compete in the CNDC Indoor on Friday, April 1, another away meet. After that the next scheduled meet is the Hazen Invitational on Saturday, April 16 beginning at 11:00 a.m. There is also the Devils Lake Invitational on that same Saturday at noon. Rugby will host their first home meet on Thursday, April 21 when the Rugby Invitational begins at 3:30 p.m.