Sports

Bottineau state qualifiers go out with a bang in Bismarck

By Matthew Semisch

05/27/2014

BISMARCK - The North Dakota state high school track and field meet takes place every year near the end of May. However, when the event does roll around, summer normally still feels ages away.

That wasn’t the case last Friday and Saturday, though, at Bismarck’s MDU Resources Community Bowl. High humidity and temperatures nearing 90 degrees were on the cards both days, and the cold and damp conditions that often mar the state meet weren’t missed.

Ten Bottineau High student-athletes qualified to compete in Bismarck. Each of them grabbed the opportunity to show their stuff in the rare state meet sunshine.

By the time the meet’s final event rolled around Saturday afternoon, BHS head track and field coach David Hoff came away pleased with what he’d seen from his Braves and Stars in the state capital.

“I liked how the first day went,” Hoff said, “And we had a lot of kids earn new personal bests, and that’s exactly what you as a coach love to see happen.

“It was a little disappointing that, in some cases, we didn’t get to event finals, but all you can ask is that the kids do their best. I think we moved up in a lot of events from where we’d been, and you saw that on the second day.”

The biggest highlight for Bottineau from the meet came from senior Harrison Aide. Aide closed out his glimmering pole vaulting career Saturday by winning his fourth consecutive Class B boys’ title in the event.

Braves junior Ethan Kerslake also had an outstanding couple of days at the state meet. He posted the best Class B boys’ 400 meter dash preliminary heat time Friday at 50.67 seconds before placing third the following day in the 400 meter final with a time of 51.22.

Bottineau’s boys’ 4x400 relay team of Aide, Cody Beaver, Braden Pewe and Kerslake also placed at the meet. They finished sixth in the finals of their event with a time of 3:55.33.

Two more BHS seniors, Cody Bedlion and Courtney Gallagher, also competed in Class B event finals in the boys’ javelin and girls’ long jump competitions, respectively.

Bottineau finished 11th in the final Class B boys’ standings with 19 points. Sadly for the BHS girls, they finished the meet without posting a point in the team pursuit.

Kindred won the Class B boys’ team title with 79 points. Carrington finished first on the Class B girls’ side with 87.

As far as his own athletes had done, though, Hoff had seen plenty of good things. Some, like the success Kerslake had in the boys’ 400 meters, could be replicated - if not improved upon - around this time next year.

“Ethan was and deserved to be very happy with that because he ran the two fastest times of his career here this week,” Hoff said. “You know he’s going to strive to do even better next year with it.”

Braves junior Cody Allard competed in the boys’ 110 meter high hurdles event. Unfortunately, though, he finished 16th in the preliminary heats after he finished with a time of 19.74 seconds.

Bedlion finished tied for 17th in the Class B boys’ javelin event with a distance of 116 feet and six inches.

Gallagher finished 20th in the Class B girls’ long jump event. She hit a distance of 15 feet and five inches on both of her first two attempts before fouling on her third and final jump.

Several Bottineau boys’ and girls’ relay teams qualified to take part in the state meet in Bismarck, but only the boys’ 4x400 team took part in the finals of their event.

BHS’s girls’ 4x100 team of Megan Fix, Gallagher, Maria Diepolder and Kobie LaFramboise finished 11th, while they finished 13th in the 4x200s. Gallagher, Diepolder, LaFramboise and Stephanie Brenden finished 11th in the girls’ 4x400.

On the boys’ side, the Braves’ 4x100 team of Cody Beaver, Kerslake, Allard and Aide finished 18th in that event and 12th in the Class B boys’ 4x200 relay.

At the end of Saturday’s action, Hoff pointed to several new personal-best marks that his team posted at the state meet as a big sign the meet had been a success for Bottineau.

“All you can do is perform your best, lay it all out on the track, and hope that that’s good enough.”