Sue Sitter/PCT Mya McNeff, right, listens to high jump advice given by Assistant Coach Steve Mueller at practice March 26.

With about a foot of accumulated snow on the ground and more to come overnight, Rugby High School’s track and field team had limited options for practice Monday, March 27.

“It’s pretty depressing,” Bill Jansen, head coach of the girls’ track team said.

Jansen, along with boys’ coach Scott Grochow and assistant coaches Jennifer Bartsch and Steve Mueller led team practices indoors.

Jansen’s team of runners worked out in the mat room upstairs in Rugby High School’s Charlie Hanneman Gym. Downstairs on the floor, jumpers and hurdlers practiced using a short line of hurdles and a large foam pad with an elastic cord for a modified high jump.

In another corner, throwers practiced their form and did strengthening exercises.

Despite the limitations, the large group of 7th through 12th grade student athletes stayed positive, listening to coaches’ instructions and working hard.

A group of athletes Jansen said were “a little more seasoned” would head to Minot State University March 31 for an indoor meet, the first of the season.

“On Friday, we just hope to get onto a track and into some pits with our kids who have done events before,” Jansen said.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of time to get ready,” he added. “We’re just looking to get onto a track and get out of training mode a little bit.”

“We’re going to be in training mode for a while here with the amount of snow we have, because it’s like this all over the state,” he said.

“We went to Hazen in early April last year, and there’s no way I could see that happening this year, because Hazen’s in the same boat we are,” he said. “They have a lot of snow, and they haven’t been getting a whole lot warmer, so it’s not leaving any faster than it’s leaving here.”

“So, it’s going to be a while before we have an outdoor meet.”

Jansen said the Panthers track and field squad looks strong for 2023.

‘Good kids coming back’

“We have a lot of good kids coming back this year,” he said. “We have a real good core of distance runners and jumpers and throwing kids.”

“We’re a little shorter in the sprints, but we’ve got some decent kids there, so all of those things will give us a good team by the end of the year, but it’s a little early to tell exactly,” he added. “Then, we’ll get to see a few teams, and see who’s out and what other kids are doing.”

Jansen said teams from the northern part of the state such as Rugby would be on a more even level with teams from the southwest, where the weather usually warms up first.

“It’s going to be a little bit different this year for us, because usually, we’re so far behind everybody,” he said. “Beulah would be on their track out west way earlier than we would, but this year, they’re in the same boat. They don’t have a whole lot of area. But they’re usually outside earlier. So, this year, we’ll be a little more even. So, it will be interesting to see how kids perform.”

Jansen said he looked forward to seeing great things from the Panthers.

The team includes six seniors including Janikka Miller, who took second at state in the high jump in 2022.

Others on the team come from TGU-Towner High School.

“We have three girls out from Towner,” Jansen said. “Of course, Ashley Martodam is our best track athlete from Towner, but she’s sick now, so she won’t be in Minot on Friday. But, we’ve got two seventh-grade girls, one that ran cross country last year and one I haven’t seen yet other than in the two weeks we’ve been in practice.”

Despite the uncooperative weather, Jansen predicted a “fun” season with strong numbers.

“We have 23 or 24 out who are eighth grade girls,” he said. “And we have over 70 out total in all six grades. Our senior class is the smallest one. We have in the high 60s left on the rest of the team.”

Jansen said the larger number of younger athletes gives the Panthers an opportunity to build a strong team.

Jansen noted North Dakota’s class B track and field programs had not undergone many changes for the upcoming season.

“We went to a three-day state meet last year, and that will stay the same this year, so everything’s basically stayed the same, other than there have been a few events where the qualifying standards have changed,” he said. “Other than that, things are the same as they were last year.”

“We’re looking forward to some sunshine and some warmer temperatures,” he added.

“We need some 40s. Our averages are supposed to be in the 40s now,” he said. “We’re always looking for the days when it gets above freezing and it stays above freezing overnight, but I don’t see any days like that in the next 10 days, for sure.”

“So, it’s going to be a while,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of snow.”