Trio of qualifiers

The New Rockford-Sheyenne track and field team has been on a roll lately. With Emmie Belquist, Bennett Meier, Ava Peterson, Dalen Leftbear and Deng Deng qualifying for state on Thursday, May 9, the Rockets added three more qualifiers on Saturday, May 11 at the Harvey/Wells County Invitational in Fessenden.

Emmie Belquist, Deng Deng and Porter Granger have earned their chance to compete in more events at the Class B State Track and Field meet on May 23-25.

Emmie Belquist took first place in the girls' 300-meter hurdles with a state-qualifying time of 47.97 seconds. Belquist has also qualified in the girls' long jump, the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x200-meter relay.

Deng Deng blazed his opponents in the boys' 200-meter dash to earn first place with a state-qualifying time of 23.14 seconds. In addition, Deng has qualified in boys' long jump, high jump, the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x200-meter relay.

Porter Granger earned his first individual state qualification of the season in the boys' long jump event. Granger took first place with a state-qualifying distance of 21 feet, 8 1/2 inches. He was just a quarter of an inch away from breaking New Rockford-Sheyenne alum Bo Belquist's school record in that event. Belquist's record is 21 feet, 8 3/4 inches that was set back in 2019. Granger has also qualified in the boys' 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays.

The Rockets had many other first place finishes – those coming from Ava Peterson, Emmie Belquist, DJ Mudgett, Deng Deng and Marial Deng.

NR-S sophomore Ava Peterson officially qualified in the girls' javelin on Thursday, May 9 at the CNDC Outdoor in Fessenden with a throw of 123 feet, 11 inches. On Saturday, Peterson threw the javelin a state qualifying distance of 118 feet, 4 inches to earn first place. Peterson also earned a fourth place finish in the girls' 200-meter dash with a time of 28.37 seconds.

Emmie Belquist earned her second first place finish of the day in the girls' 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.07 seconds. Belquist also competed in the girls' 200-meter dash and placed third overall with a time of 27.70 seconds.

NR-S senior DJ Mudgett competed in the boys' discus event and threw a personal best of 133 feet, 7 inches to place first overall. Mudgett also competed in the boys' shot put and placed in third with a throw of 42 feet, 8 inches.

Also earning first place finishes for the Rockets were the Deng brothers – Deng and Marial. Deng earned first place in the boys' 100-meter dash with a time of 11.54 seconds, whereas Marial earned first place in the boys' high jump event with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches.

Other top five placings for the Rockets girls came from Jaida Schumacher, Kaci Weisenburger and Isla Jacobson.

Jaida Schumacher competed in the girls' 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. In the 100-meter dash, Schumacher placed in fourth with a time of 13.26 seconds and in the 100-meter dash she finished in second place with a time of 27.50 seconds.

Kaci Weisenburger earned fifth place in the girls' 400-meter run with a personal best time of 1:06.41. Isla Jacobson competed in the girls' 800-meter run and finished in fifth with a personal best time of 2:43.48.

The girls' team finished in fourth with a total of 140 points.

On the boys' side of things, there were many top five placers.

Granger competed in the boys' 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash and earned second place in both, with times of 11.59 seconds and 23.35 seconds, respectively. NR-S junior Bennett Meier also competed in the 200-meter dash and finished in fifth place.

NR-S seventh grader Gabe Smith competed in the boys' 3,200-meter run and finished in fifth place overall with a time of 13:13.58.

Bennett Meier, Porter Granger, Marial Deng and Deng Deng made up the boys' 4x100-meter relay and finished in second place with a state-qualifying time of 45.79 seconds. The boys' 4x200-meter relay – made up of Jackson Schumacher, Marial Deng, Bennett Meier and Deng Deng – also placed in second with a time of 1:38.13.

The boys' team finished in third place overall with a total of 197 points.

H/WC Invitational

Saturday, May 11

in Fessenden

Boys' Team Scores

Harvey/Wells County 298, Benson County 272, New Rockford-Sheyenne 197, Carrington 148, Northern Lights 138, North Star 88, South Border 76, Rolette/Wolford 68, Center Stanton 47, Zeeland 12.

Boys' Individual Results

100-Meter Dash: Deng Deng (1st), 11.54; Porter Granger (2nd), 11:59; Bennett Meier (11th), 12.13; Danny Garcia (26th), 13.75; Thaddison Wobbema (27th), 13.91; Beau Baumbach (29th), 14.17; Aiden Riggle (31st), 18.32; Jackson Schumacher (32nd), 18.49

200-Meter Dash: D. Deng (1st), 23.14*; Granger (2nd), 23.35; B. Meier (5th), 24.34; Malaki Kukowski (9th), 26.05; Riggle (13th), 27.47; Garcia (15th), 28.21; Baumbach (19th), 29.28; T. Wobbema (23rd), 31.12

800-Meter Run: Seth Greiner (8th), 2:55.21

1.600-Meter Run: Greiner (10th), 6:31.33

3,200-Meter Run: Gabe Smith (5th), 13:13.58

4x100-Meter Relay: B. Meier, Granger, Marial Deng, D. Deng (2nd), 45.79*; Garcia, Baumbach, Dayson Dubois, Kukowski (8th), 53.11

4x200-Meter Relay: Jackson Schumacher, M. Deng, B. Meier, D. Deng (2nd), 1:38.13

Shot Put: DJ Mudgett (3rd), 42-8; Francis Bellile (9th), 35-6; Kylon Keja (16th), 33-5; Chaztin Wobbema (19th), 32-4

Discus: DJ Mudgett (1st), 133-7; Keja (15th), 93-1; C. Wobbema (23rd), 81-7; Bellile (26th), 78-7

Javelin: Jackson Schumacher (7th), 115-7

High Jump: M. Deng (1st), 5-10

Long Jump: Granger (1st), 21-8 1/2*; Kukowski (15th), 17-2

Girls' Team Scores

Carrington 465, Harvey/Wells County 211, Benson County 152, New Rockford-Sheyenne 140, Northern Lights 114, Rolette/Wolford 98, South Border 97, North Star 52, Center Stanton 44, Zeeland 6.

Girls' Individual Results

100-Meter Dash: Jaida Schumacher (4th), 13.26; Kaci Weisenburger (10th), 14.08; Isla Jacobson (18th), 14.97

200-Meter Dash: Jaida Schumacher (2nd), 27.50; Emmie Belquist (3rd), 27.70; Ava Peterson (4th), 28.37; Lucy Meier (7th), 28.99; Weisenburger (9th), 29.54; Jacobson (16th), 31.83

400-Meter Run: Weisenburger (5th), 1:06.41; Peterson (10th), 1:11.63

800-Meter Run: Jacobson (5th), 2:43.48

100-Meter Hurdles: Belquist (1st), 17.05; L. Meier (8th), 18.55

300-Meter Hurdles: Belquist (1st), 47.97*

4x100-Meter Relay: L. Meier, Peterson, Jaida Schumacher, Belquist (8th), 1:02.89

Shot Put: Lora Wobbema (18th), 25-0; Jocee Lawrence (30th), 21-2

Discus: L. Wobbema (8th), 89-9; Ava Bullinger (29th), 57-0; Lawrence (30th), 56-11

Javelin: Peterson (1st), 118-4*; L. Wobbema (17th), 70-7; Bullinger (25th), 58-0

High Jump: L. Meier (7th) 4-6

*denotes state-qualification