Sue Sitter/PCT Rugby’s Austin Dibble rounds the track in the 3200-meter run for a state berth. He also qualified for state in the 1600-meter run and the 4x400-meter relay.

Nearly 30 Rugby High School track and field athletes boarded the bus for the class B state meet in Bismarck May 25 after a strong finish to their season at the North Central Regional Meet May 19.

The regional meet, held at Rugby High School’s Johnsen Field, saw a first place finish for the Panthers overall in both boys’ and girls’ team scores.

Eleven other schools from throughout the region attended the meet.

Slightly hazy, warm weather provided a backdrop to the competition, which saw Rugby shatter meet records in the girls’ 4×800-meter relay and the boys’ 4×400-meter relay.

In the boys’ 4×200-meter event, Rugby’s Kristian Fritz Cole Fahnestock, Logan Gronvold and William Lundberg, all seniors, broke a 2021 record set by Velva-Drake/Anamoose with a time of one minute, 33.42 seconds. Fritz, Austin Dibble, Fahnestock and William Lundberg broke a 2014 meet record set by Rugby Panthers to qualify for state with a time of three minutes, 34.49 seconds.

In the girls’ 4×800-meter relay, Rugby’s Amelia Shepard, Brooklyn Bartsch, Mikaylee Livedalen and Hannah Senechal broke a record set in 2012 by Rugby Panther runners with a time of 10 minutes, 6.06 seconds.

New Rockford-Sheyenne’s Kelsie Belquist set and broke her own records in the 200-meter dash and the 100-meter hurdles.

All participants at the meets set their sights on personal records over everything else.

As she warmed up for the shot put event, Rugby’s Haylee Jundt said she hoped to qualify for state. “My record is 33 (feet) three (inches),” she said, adding she hoped to PR.

And she did, with a distance of 35 ft. 11 in.

Teammate Riley Bonebrake also set a personal record with a throw of 36 ft. 8 in. Her first-place throw was one of several qualifiers for the season.

Both Bonebrake and Jundt qualified for state in the discus event, Jundt with a throw of 97 ft. 9 in., tying Bonebrake’s distance.

Jaslyn Mitzel saw a PR with a throw of 29 ft., 4 in. Although her throw didn’t state-qualify, the eighth grader said she felt happy to break her own record.

Would she stay with track and field in high school? “I’m thinking so, yeah,” she said.

The first three athletes to place in each track and field event in the meet automatically qualified for state.

Rugby High School seniors qualifying for state in the boys’ division were Bryceton Deplazes for the 110-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump; Dibble, for the 1600-meter run, the 3200-meter run and the 4×400-meter relay; Fahnestock for the 400-meter dash, the 4×100, 4×200-meter and the 4×400-meter relays; Erik Foster, for the high jump; Fritz for the 100-meter dash, the 4×100-meter, 4×200-meter and 4×400-meter relays; Gronvold, for the pole vault, 110-meter hurdles, the 200-meter dash, the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays; William Lundberg for the 100, 200 and 400-meter dash, and the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400-meter relays, and Brody Schneibel for the javelin throw.

Cy Walker, a junior, qualified for state in the 110-meter hurdles, and the 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter relays. Sophomores Jenner Johnson and Taytum Risovi also qualified for state, Johnson for the 3200-meter run and Risovi for the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays.

Rugby High School Coach Scott Grochow was named North Central Coach of the Year at the meet.

Harvey-Wells County’s Gabe Allmaras was named Outstanding Senior Athlete for the North Central Region.

Qualifiers for the girls’ state meet were seniors Peyton Hauck, for the long jump and 4×100-meter relay; Livedalen, for the 4×800-meter relay; Savannah McCall, high jump, and Janikka Miller, high jump.

Juniors qualifying for state were Brooklyn Bartsch, 800-meter run, 1600-meter run, 4×400-meter relay, 4×800-meter relay; Riley Bonebrake, shot put and discus; Haylee Jundt, shot put and discus, and Amelia Shepard, 3200-meter run and 4×800-meter relay.

Qualifying sophomores were Lacie Deplazes, triple jump; Rylah Hager, 4×400-meter relay, and Ashley Martodam, 4×200-meter relay, triple jump and long jump.

Freshmen qualifying for state were Jaelyn Lunde, 4×800-meter relay; Senechal, 400-meter dash, 800-meter run, 1600-meter run, 3200-meter run, 4×400-meter relay and 4×800-meter relay, and Quinn Walker, 100-meter hurdles.

Eighth graders qualifying for state were Sam Blessum, pole vault, 4×100-meter, 4×200-meter and 4×400-meter relay; Hallie Hauck, Long jump, 4×100-meter relay, 4×200-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay, and Mirylyn Migler, 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter relay.

Rugby’s Miller was named 2023 Outstanding Senior Athlete for the North Central Region. New Rockford-Sheyenne’s Elliot Belquist received the 2023 Coach of the Year Award.

After regionals, Panther Girls’ Coach Bill Jansen said, “It definitely was a very trying year for our athletes. The weather forced us to be inside much longer than we wanted to be.”

“The competitive season was compressed into about three weeks, which makes it very hard to get a true picture of what your athletes can do,” he added. “With that said, I feel our kids did a great job. Region Champs again and athletes qualified for state in all but four events. I am looking forward to see what our athletes can do with one more week of preparation.”

North Central Regional Meet results:

Boys:

100-meter dash: Kristian Fritz, third place, state qualifier, 11.82 seconds; Taytum Risovi, 12.54; Levi Lundberg, 14.69.

200-meter dash: William Lundberg, first place, state qualifier, 23.08; Logan Gronvold, second place, state qualifier, 23.56; Cy Walker, eighth place, 25.45; Taytum Risovi, 25.82.

400-meter dash: Fahnestock, first place, state qualifier, 52.10.

800-meter run: Connor Klein, fifth place, 2:21.26; Connor Ramsey, seventh place, 2:22.30; Elijah Towe, 2:27.20.

1600-meter run: Austin Dibble, first place, state qualifier, 4:43.57; Jenner Johnson, sixth place, 5:04.86; Brayden Green, seventh place, 5:17.49; Towe, 5:36.00.

3200-meter run: Dibble, first place, state qualifier, 10:59.50; Johnson, third place, state qualifier, 11:16.05; Green, fourth place, 11:16.41; Maddex Kirchofner, sixth place, 12:04.78.

110-meter hurdles: Walker, second place, state qualifier, 16.64; Bryceton Deplazes, third place, state qualifier, 17.02.

300-meter hurdles: Walker, fourth place, 43.24; Hudson Torr, 52.61.

4×200-meter relay: Fritz, Fahnestock, Gronvold, William Lundberg, first place, state qualifier, meet record; 1:33.42.

4×400-meter relay: Fritz, Dibble, Fahnestock, William Lundberg, first place, state qualifier, meet record; 3:34.49.

4×800-meter relay: Johnson, Kirchofner, Ramsey, Klein, fourth place, 9:12.72.

High jump: Erik Foster, first place, state qualifier, 6 ft. 0 in.; Tucker Volk, seventh place, 5 ft., 4.0 in.; Caleb Schaan, 4 ft. 10.0 in.; Eli McNeff, 4 ft. 8.0 in.

Pole vault: Bryceton Deplazes, first place, state qualifier, 11 ft. 0 in; Gronvold, second place, state qualifier, 11 ft. 0 in.; Jove Risovi, fifth place, 9 ft. 6.0 in.; Ty Schmitt, sixth place, 9 ft. 0 in.; Austin Schneibel, eighth place, 8 ft. 6.0 in.

Long jump: Deplazes, eighth place, 19 ft. 0 in.; Foster, 18 ft. 11.50 in.; Volk, 17 ft. 7.75 in.; Schaan, 17 ft. 0.75 in.

Triple jump: Deplazes, second place, state qualifier, 40 ft., 0.50 in.; Foster, sixth place, 38 ft. 5.50 in.; Schmitt, 35 ft. 7.0 in.; Jove Risovi, 35 ft, 3.50 in.; Schaan, 34 ft. 6.50 in.

Shot put: Brody Schneibel, seventh place, 40 ft. 7.0 in.; Austin Schneibel, 36 ft. 9.0 in.; Cole Anderson, 31 ft. 11.0 in.; Levi Lundberg, 24 ft. 6.0 in.

Discus: Klein, 98 ft., 2.0 in.; Anderson, 96 ft. 11.0 in.

Javelin: Brody Schneibel, first place, state qualifier, 161 ft. 2.0 in.; Schmitt, seventh place, 133 ft. 4.0 in.; Anderson, 115 ft., 0 in; Levi Lundberg, 84 ft. 4.0 in.

Girls:

100-meter dash: Peyton Hauck sixth place, 13.58; Rylah Hager, 14.21; Haley Mayer, 14.45; Katie Sullivan, 15.09; Jozie Tofte, 15.15.

200-meter dash: Peyton Hauck, 28.53; Brekkyn Thompson, 29.83; Alyssa Peterson, 31.20; Mayer, 31.56; Brooke Kleespie, 31.85.

400-meter dash: Hannah Senechal, first place, state qualifier, meet record, 1:01.41; Hager, eighth place, 1:05.89; Thompson, 1:09.50; Kleespie, 1:10.59; Mari Melgaard, 1:13.13.

800-meter run: Jaelyn Lunde, sixth place, 2:37.87; Mikaylee Livedalen, seventh place, 2:39.06; Mya McNeff, 2:50.94.

1600-meter run: Brooklyn Bartsch, third place, state qualifier, 5:53.46; Lunde, fourth place, 6:03.35; Kathryn Kuntz, sixth place, 6:15.95; Mauvlyn Kirchofner, seventh place, 6:16.80; Amelia Shepard, 6:31.92.

3200-meter run: Senechal, first place, state qualifier, 12:47.96; Shepard, third place, state qualifier, 13:14.44; Kirchofner, fifth place, 13:35.52; Kuntz, 13:53.70; Ashlyn Dibble, eighth place, 13:56.04.

100-meter hurdles: Quinn Walker, second place, state qualifier, 17.81.

300-meter hurdles: Walker, 56.45.

Long jump: Peyto Hauck, first place, state qualifier, 16 ft. 6.25 in.; Hallie Hauck, second place, state qualifier, 16 ft. 2.0 in.; Ashley Martodam, sixth place, 15 ft. 6.25 in.; Joran Jundt, eighth place, 15.0 ft.

Triple jump: Lacie Deplazes, second place, state qualifier, 33 ft., 3.50 in.; Joran Jundt, fourth place, 32 ft. 1.0 in.; Martodam, fifth place, 31 ft., 8.50 in.; Janikka Miller, eighth place, 30 ft. 5.50 in.; Walker, 28 ft. 1.0 in.

High jump: Miller, first place, state qualifier, 5 ft. 0 in.; Savannah McCall, third place, state qualifier, 4 ft. 8 in.; Deplazes, fourth place, 4 ft. 6.0 in.; Harlie Volk, 4 ft. 2.0 in.

Pole vault: Sam Blessum, second place, state qualifier, 7 ft. 6 in.; Deplazes, fourth place, 7 ft. 0 in.; Jaclyn Duchscher, eighth place, 6 ft. 0 in.; Jessie Wolf, 5 ft. 6 in.

Shot put: Riley Bonebrake, first place, state qualifier, 36 ft. 8 in.; Haylee Jundt, second place, state qualifier, 35 ft. 11 in.; Mirylyn Migler, seventh place, 30 ft. 6.0 in.; Jaslyn Mitzel, eighth place, 29 ft. 9 in.; Leah Shepard, 25 ft. 2 in.

Discus: Haylee Jundt, second place, state qualifier, 97 ft. 9.0 in.; Bonebrake, third place, state qualifier, 97 ft. 9.0 in.; Mitzel, eighth place, 80 ft. 10 in.; Leah Shepard, 66 ft. 1 in.

Javelin: Joran Jundt, fifth place, 106 ft. 7.0 in.; Kaedyn DeMontigny, 80 ft. 10 in.; Taylor Pritschet, 76 ft. 5.0 in.

4×100-meter relay: Blessum, Migler, Hallie Hauck, Peyton Hauck, state qualifier, 52. 48 seconds.

4×200-meter relay: Blessum, Migler, Hallie Hauck, Martodam, second place, state qualifier, 1:50.28.

4×400-meter relay: Bartsch, Blessum, Hager, Hallie Hauck, first place, state qualifier, 4:15.41.

4×800-meter relay: Amelia Shepard, Bartsch, Livedalen, Senechal, first place, state qualifier, meet record, 10:06.06.