BISMARCK -- Alyssa Anderson was a little confused back when she saw her older sister, Krista, win the 3,200-meter state championship for the first time.
"I was 4 years old then," Alyssa Anderson said. "I thought it was only two laps around. Krista made it look so easy. But it's definitely a hard race."
Not too hard for the Benson County sophomore to extend her family's string of state 3,200 titles to 10 here Saturday. Alyssa Anderson was one of the spark plugs as Benson County won the team title in the Class B girls state track meet, which concluded Saturday.
Benson County finished with 74 points. Hazen had 65, with Rugby (53), Carrington (49) and Velva/Drake-Anamoose (44) rounding out the top five.
After older sisters Krista and Lindsay combined to win eight straight 3,200 championships, Alyssa won her second straight. The eighth-grader ran a personal-record time of 11 minutes, 16.73 seconds. She's still coming up shy of the best times of her older sisters.
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"I'd like to beat their times," said Anderson, who also won the 1,600, finished fifth in the 800 and ran a leg on Benson County 4x800 relay team that finished first. "I didn't think I'd get them this year. They're pretty fast. I hope to catch them at some time.
"They don't put any pressure on me (about keeping the run of 3,200 titles alive). They're very supportive. But I want to keep the streak going."
Benson County also got a championship in the long jump from Sharisa Yri, who finished second Friday in the triple jump. And it picked up key points in the 800 from Erin Leier (second), Anderson and Katelynn Engh (seventh) as BC won the state team title for the third time in the past eight seasons. Benson County hasn't finished lower than third in the team race in that span.
"Winning state was our goal," Benson County co-coach Bobby Hoffner said. "We were second last year, and we had everybody back from that team.
"The 800 was the big one for us. We only had one girl ranked going in and we placed three. That gave us some breathing space. And Sharisa got some big points in the jumping events. I'm always nervous on those events because they have to hit that mark. Sharisa had a good meet."
Dinius, Shimek win
Area athletes Julie Dinius of Langdon Area and Thompson's Brooke Shimek also won individual championships Saturday.
Like Anderson, Dinius placed in four events. But the sophomore came up shy of a repeat title in the 200.
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Dinius won the 100 for the second straight season, finishing in 12.99 seconds. And she finished fourth in the 200, sixth in the 400 and eighth in the pole vault.
"I have to be happy with winning the 100," the 5-foot-3 Dinius said. "Most people would love being in that spot, winning a state championship. But I really wanted to repeat in both.
"I felt a little pressure. It's easier to go in as the underdog. And I need to get stronger. I was tired running the 200 and just coming off the 400."
Shimek had the top seed in the 800 entering the state meet and won the event with a time of 2:20.34 to edge Benson County's Leier (2:20.90).
"My legs are sore," Shimek said. "They usually are sore some after I run, but this is the worst they've ever been. I was pushed in this race."
Being the top seed was a good news-bad news situation for Shimek.
"I was nervous the whole weekend," said Shimek, who finished third in the 800 last season. "I couldn't stand still today; I was always moving around. But that might have helped my muscles stay loose."
One other area athlete was narrowly edged for a title, as Griggs County Central's Shaleen Helmer was runner-up in the discus.
