Relay or not

Ready or not ... well actually, relay or not.

The Rocket boys' 4x100-meter relay team has officially punched their ticket to the state track meet in May. Easton Benz, Porter Granger, Micah Dutch and Connor Knatterud made up the team that took first place at the Viking Early Bird Special in Kindred on Tuesday, April 9 with a state qualifying time of 45.55 seconds.

The boys' relay was the only event the Rockets had state qualified in at this meet. However, there were a few athletes that barely missed that state qualifying standard in their event.

NR-S senior Connor Knatterud was one of those athletes who came up just a hair short. Knatterud snagged a first place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.48 seconds, exactly four milliseconds short from state qualifying.

NR-S freshman Emmie Belquist was another athlete for NR-S who came up shy of state qualifying, except in two events – specifically the girls' 300-meter hurdles and the 100-meter dash. Belquist placed first in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.18 seconds. The state qualifying time for the 300-meter hurdles is 48.84 seconds. In the 100-meter dash, Belquist took fourth place with a time of 13.75 seconds.

Other close calls came from the girls' 4x100-meter relay team – made up by Ava Peterson, Katie Allmaras, Jaida Schumacher and Belquist – who took first place with a time of 53.17 seconds.

Peterson earned herself a first place finish in the girls' javelin event with a throw of 112 feet, 1 inch. Although Peterson took first place, she was a few feet off from state-qualifying.

With these close calls, the Rockets will without a doubt pick up a few more state qualifications in the upcoming meets.

Overall, the Rockets did extremely well in Kindred.

For the boys, Bennett Meier secured three top 10 placings for the Rockets – a third place finish in high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 6 inches; fifth place in the boys' 400-meter run with a time of 57.99 seconds and eighth place in long jump with a jump of 17 feet, 10 inches.

The Rockets 4x200-meter relay team made up by Kolton O'Connor, Thomas Allmaras, Layton Jacobson and Malaki Kukowski snuck in at third place with a time of 1:48.13. The Rockets other 4x200-meter relay team – made up by Dutch, Benz, B. Meier and C. Knatterud – was disqualified after a handoff was missed.

Other top 10 finishes came from Granger, Dutch, Kukowski, Benz and Jackson Schumacher.

Granger, Kukowski and Benz' top 10 finishes came in the boys' long jump event, where Granger placed third, Kukowski placed in seventh and Benz took ninth.

Dutch competed in the boys' 100-meter dash, where he placed sixth overall with a time of 11.91 seconds. Jackson Schumacher rounded out the top 10 in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.17 seconds to take 10th place.

The boys finished in fifth place with a total of 48 points.

The girls' team fared just as well as the boys team with multiple top 10 placings.

Along with the girls' 4x100-meter relay team taking first place, the second 4x100-meter relay team – made up by Kaci Weisenburger, Kaelyn Ystaas, Karsyn Wetzel and Paige Knatterud – placed third overall with a time of 57.84 seconds. K. Weisenburger and P. Knatterud also competed in the girls 4x200-meter relay alongside Peterson and K. Allmaras, where they finished in second place with a time of 1:58.08.

NR-S eighth grader Jaida Schumacher added three top 10 finishes for the Rockets with a second place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.11, a fifth place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.81 and seventh place in girls' long jump with a jump of 13 feet, 9 1/2 inches.

Also earning top 10 finishes for the Rockets were Peterson, K. Weisenburger, K. Allmaras, Belquist and Lora Wobbema.

NR-S senior Lora Wobbema competed in javelin for the first time in her track and field career in Kindred. Wobbema earned 10th place with a throw of 80 feet, 7 inches. Also placing in javelin for the Rockets was K. Allmaras, who took seventh place with a throw of 84 feet, 5 inches.

K. Allmaras also competed in the girls' 300-meter hurdles, where she placed fifth overall with a time of 56.53 seconds.

Belquist took third place in the girls' long jump with a jump of 15 feet, 2 inches; K. Weisenburger ran a personal best time of 1:08.77 in the 400-meter run to take fifth place overall and Peterson placed eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 30.82.

The girls' team placed in third with a total of 80 points.

The Rockets next track meet will be held just 16 miles from here in Carrington on Tuesday, April 16.

Results from this meet will be included in the April 22 edition of the New Rockford Transcript.

Viking Early Bird Special

Tuesday, April 9

at Kindred

Boys' Team Scores

Kindred 303, Wyndmere-Lidgerwood 83, Maple River 75, Sargent County 62, New Rockford-Sheyenne 48, Richland 38, Hankinson 21, Enderlin 3.

Boys' Individual Results

100-Meter Dash: Connor Knatterud (1st), 11.48; Micah Dutch (6th), 11.91; Malaki Kukowski (19th), 12.86; Jackson Schumacher (20th), 12.89; Thomas Allmaras (21st), 12.91; Aiden Riggle (25th), 13.11; Kolton O'Connor (33rd), 13.83; Richard Cavanaugh (35th), 13.91; Layton Jacobson (36th), 14.11; Brody Weisenburger (39th), 14.55

200-Meter Dash: Jackson Schumacher (10th), 26.17; T. Allmaras (11th), 26.28; Kukowski (16th), 26.67; Riggle (20th), 27.62

400-Meter Run: Bennett Meier (5th), 57.99; Riggle (13th), 1:03.81

4x100-Meter Relay: Easton Benz, Granger, Dutch, C. Knatterud (1st), 45.55*

4x200-Meter Relay: O'Connor, T. Allmaras, L. Jacobson, Kukowski (3rd), 1:48.13; Dutch, Benz, B. Meier, C. Knatterud, DQ

Shot Put: B. Weisenburger (13th), 36-2; O'Connor (18th), 35-0; L. Jacobson (19th), 34-7 1/2; Francis Bellile (24th), 30-9; Delray Demarce (27th), 30-1; Chaztin Wobbema (30th), 29-1; Jaydee Duda (39th), 15-10

Discus: C. Wobbema (18th), 87-7; L. Jacobson (21st), 84-7; B. Weisenburger (22nd), 84-6; Bellile (31st), 65-6; Demarce (33rd), 60-5

Javelin: Walford (11th), 113-7; B. Weisenburger (12th), 113-2; Jackson Schumacher (34th), 92-11

High Jump: B. Meier (3rd), 5-6

Long Jump: Granger (3rd), 19-3; Kukowski (7th), 17-10; B. Meier (8th), 17-10; Benz (9th), 17-5 1/2; T. Allmaras (16th), 16-4; Koy Zieman (18th), 16-2 1/4; Jackson Schumacher (25th), 15-1 1/2; Sawyer Huso (27th), 14-10 1/2; Braylon Alfstad (31st), 14-7

Girls' Team Scores

Kindred 214.5, Wyndmere-Lidgerwood 117, New Rockford-Sheyenne 80, Sargent County 61.5, Maple River 59, Richland 37, Oak Grove Lutheran 20, Enderlin 8, Hankinson 4.

Girls' Individual Results

100-Meter Dash: Emmie Belquist (4th), 13.75; Jaida Schumacher (5th), 13.81; Paige Knatterud (11th), 14.73; Karsyn Wetzel (15th), 15.17; Kaelyn Ystaas (21st), 15.66; Haven Cavanaugh (34th), 17.16

200-Meter Dash: Jaida Schumacher (2nd), 28.11; Ava Peterson (8th), 30.82; Wetzel (11th), 32.58; Ystaas (18th), 34.70; H. Cavanaugh (22nd), 36.64

400-Meter Run: Kaci Weisenburger (5th), 1:08.77

300-Meter Hurdles: Belquist (1st), 49.18; Katie Allmaras (5th), 56.53

4x100-Meter Relay: Peterson, K. Allmaras, Jaida Schumacher, Belquist (1st), 53.17; K. Weisenburger, Ystaas, Wetzel, P. Knatterud (3rd), 57.84

4x200-Meter Relay: Peterson, K. Weisenburger, P. Knatterud, K. Allmaras (2nd), 1:58.08

Shot Put: Trysta Thumb (12th), 25-3 1/2; Addysen Fandrich (13th), 25-3; Lora Wobbema (15th), 23-11; Gracie Jackson (21st), 22-1; Ava Bullinger (29th), 20-1; Cameron Bishop (31st), 19-7; Judy Meier (32nd), 17-10 1/2

Discus: Fandrich (11th), 74-1; Thumb (14th), 66-5; L. Wobbema (18th), 65-7; Bullinger (28th), 57-5; J. Meier (32nd), 52-4; Jackson (34th), 38-4; Bishop (36th), 32-6

Javelin: Peterson (1st), 112-1; K. Allmaras (7th), 84-5; L. Wobbema (10th), 80-7; Logan Cudworth (17th), 65-7; Wetzel (19th), 59-7; Bullinger (24th), 48-6

Long Jump: Belquist (3rd), 15-2; Jaida Schumacher (7th), 13-9 1/2

*denotes state qualification