Blue Jays Roundup: Blue Jays qualify for state track meet

Apr. 10—Thursday was cold, wet and windy in Valley City but the Jamestown High School boys track and field team stuck to the grind.

The Blue Jays competed at the Valley City Invite where they placed second out of eight competing teams. Jamestown finished with 112 points in the team standings while Fargo North, Thursday's top-finisher, ended with 134 points. The meet marked the Jays' first outdoor contest of the season.

The team is next slated to compete in West Fargo Sheyenne on Friday. Jamestown will be competing against West Fargo-Sheyenne, Fargo North and Fargo Shanley, all teams that are comparable in size to the Blue Jay squad. Both the Blue Jay girls and boys teams will compete on Friday.

"It was a good effort by the boys," JHS co-head track and field coach Ken Gardner said. "We have a lot of young guys and today for a lot of them today was like starting over for them just because you have different events and they kind of have to find their way around and where the different start lines and finish lines are so there's a learning curve still but I think they did a good job today doing that."

Some of Gardner's veteran athletes didn't seem to miss a beat.

"We had three state qualifiers today," Gardner said. "Devin Beach in the triple jump and then Ben Anteau and Gavin Haut both in the 3,200-meter run. It was good to get the season started off with some state qualifiers."

Beach's 42-foot, 1 1/2-inch jump was a personal best and good enough for first place. Beach eclipsed Peyton Zaun's second-place jump by 10 inches.

Anteau cruised to a top-finish in the two-mile, pacing out a personal record of 9:34.97. Haut was not far behind his training partner. He crossed the line 0.10 seconds before the clock hit 10 minutes to place third out of the 17 racers.

In the throwing events, Thomas Allmer was in a tight battle with Caleb Olson of Lisbon for the top spot. Allmer ended up topping Olson by one inch to get the 10-point, first-place finish. Allmer's throw of 137-10 was a little shy of a state-qualifying distance.

While the distance squad and throwers were hitting their marks, the Blue Jay sprinters were facing more of a challenge.

"We're really young in the sprints and to be honest with you, sprinters don't like that kind of weather," Gardner said. "Distance runners don't mind it too much — they are probably a little bit more used to it — but sprinters and jumpers like to get those muscles warm and loose."

C'Aundre Douglas, a Blue Jay freshman, placed 11th in the 100-meter dash. Douglas's 12.20-second run was the fastest Blue Jay time by 0.99 seconds. Jaden Compson of Valley City won the race, breaking the tape at 11.29 seconds. Levi Korum was the Blue Jay leader in the 200-meter dash. Korum crossed the line at 25.58 seconds and placed 13th out of 76 competing athletes.

"It's a work in progress," Gardner said of the sprinters. "I think (the team) did well today."

Team results

1. Fargo North 134, 2. Jamestown 112, 3. Valley City 108, 4. Lisbon 105.5, 5. Hillsboro/Central Valley 97.5, 6. Kindred 90, 7. Devils Lake 39, 8. Carrington 16.

Top finishers / Blue Jay results

100-meter dash: 1. Jaden Compson, VC, 11.29; 11. C'Aundre Douglas 12.20; 36. Sam Ulrich 13.19; 40. Ethan Hoff 13.28; 47. Xander Netolicky 13.61; 56. Ty Kapp 14.06; 58. Louis Kjellberg-Jones 14.16; 65. Jack Van Berkom 14.78; 68. Isaac Duven 15.00; 72. Gavin Iverson 15.81; 73. Garin Groff 16.61;

200-meter dash: 1. Austin Shape, VC, 23.2; 13. Levi Korum 25.58; 17. Asher Williams 26.02; 19. Hunter Nelson 26.06; 23. Melusi Senzanje 26.44; 31. Carter Burchill 26.95; 48. S. Ulrich 28.55; 51. Eric Chea 28.92; 56. Ethan Hoff 29.06; 59. Netolicky 29.28; 62. Tyler Kapp 30.05; 68. Van Berkom 31.62; 70. Kjellberg-Jones 32.52; 72. Duven 32.72; 75. Groff 35.04; 76. Iverson 36.50.

400-meter dash: 1. Caeden Sweet, LIS, 53.95; 2. Ben Anteau 56.49; 3. Chandlar Rott 56.84; 6. Gavin Haut 57.92; 17. Burchill 1:05.03; 18. Chea 1:06.72.

800-meter run: 1. Caaden Rath, KIN, 2:12.41.

1600-meter run: 1. Mike Nelson, LIS, 4:51.46; 4. Micah Hoke 5:03.82; 6. Kade Schumacher 5:05.40; 22. Austin Anderson 5:56.40; 32. Ethan Sprague 6:38.06.

3200-meter run: 1. Anteau, JHS, 9:34.97; 3. Haut 9:59.90; 5. Rott 10:22.01; 7. Cullen Flieth 11:15.19; 10. Ethan Igl 11:50.51; 14. Sam Anteau 12:08.30; 15. Raine Job 12:30.16.

110-meter hurdles: 1. Jared Eggermont, VC, 15.26; 3. Devin Beach 17.64.

300-meter hurdles: 1. Caeden Sweet, LIS, 42.62; 3. Preston Kroeber 44.61; 11. Asher Williams 52.66;

4x100-meter relay: 1. Fargo North (Nathaniel Fritel, Jacob Brosius, Peder Haugo, Samuel Nyemah), 45.39; 5. Jamestown (Levi Korum, C'Aundre Douglas, Preston Kroeber, Brode Hillstrom), 48.34; 12. Jamestown (Damien Cross, Asher Williams, Xander Netolicky, Sam Ulrich), 52.9.

4x200-meter relay: 1. Fargo North (Samuel Nyemah, Peder Haugo, Daniel Jones, Jacob Brosius), 1:36.33; 6. Jamestown (Korum, H. Nelson, Douglas, Brode Hillstrom), 1:44.18; 7. Jamestown (Carter Burchill, Melusi Senzanje, Chea, Cross), 1:48.65; 11. Jamestown (Duven, Iverson, Kjellberg-Jones, Ray Vasquez), 2:05.68.

4x400-meter relay: 1. Lisbon (Boeden Greenley, Mike Nelson, Simon Sveum, Caeden Sweet), 3:39.90; 5. Jamestown (Hoke, Douglas, Kroeber, Schumacher), 3:55.06; 12. Jamestown (Cross, Kapp, Ethan Sprague, Anderson), 4:39.10.

4x800-meter relay: 1. Hillsboro/Central Valley (Christian Brist, Henry Nelson, Ethan Sherva, John Kaldor), 9:08.34. 6. Jamestown (Flieth, Igl, S. Anteau, Job), 10:01.12;

High jump: 1. Sam Preston, H/CV, 5-10; 3. Beach 5-6; 10. Van Berkom 5-2; 12. Ulrich 5-2;

Pole vault: 1. Parker Gallagher, H/CV, 10-6;

Long jump: 1. Peyton Zaun, VC, 21-0; 3. Hillstrom 19-10.5; 15. H. Nelson 17-6; 33. Williams 15-5.5; 35. Korum 15-1.

Triple jump: 1. Devin Beach, JHS, 42-1.5; 4. Hillstrom 37-2.5; 9. Kroeber 33-10.5.

Shot put: 1. Kaden Pastian, H/CV, 57-8; 5. Thomas Allmer 45-4.5; 19. Blayke Simmers 33-10.5; 32. Tanner Sumrall 31-4; 33. Bo Nelson 31-3; 35. Ethan Holmquist 30-11.5.

Discus: 1. Allmer, JHS, 137-10; 19. Blayke Simmers 91-0; 25. B. Nelson 85-8; 32. Holmquist 76-2; 44. Sumrall 65-3.

Javelin: 1. Mickey Kenney, FN, 155-11; 5. Beach 133-7; 13. Allmer 104-4; 21. Simmers 80-3.