New Town track and field coach Brian Anderson knew the reputation of UND's High Performance Center, so his team made the four-plus-hour drive to Grand Forks this weekend.
"We had heard it was a really nice facility and had a weekend where we had already been to Minot so we wanted to switch it up and come down here and see what it's like," Anderson said. "This is an unbelievable facility."
That sentiment has been common this spring for the HPC, which has been busy with prep track meets the past two weeks, including Saturday afternoon's 13-team Grand Forks Invitational.
The HPC started hosting prep events a year ago, but this season has been the first with the building featuring elevated seats for viewing.
On Thursday, the HPC hosted the 11-team Red River Valley Conference meet. The previous weekend, the HPC hosted the 11-team Eastern Dakota Conference Indoor.
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The busy schedule has drawn compliments from visiting programs.
"It's a nice surface," said Red River girls track and field coach Tracey Heisler, who organizes the events hosted by Grand Forks. "You look at some of the times, and it's fast."
The HPC also offers a 300-meter track, whereas facilities in Fargo and Wahpeton feature 200-meter tracks.
"On 200 tracks, those curves are a little tight," Heisler said. "This loosens that up a little bit, and you're going to see times cut."
The unique nature of the 300-meter track can be seen in national rankings. On the website Athletic.net, which tracks national high school results, the top national times for the 300-meter hurdles are all EDC runners from last weekend's event.
The Grand Forks Invitational featured athletes from all four Greater Grand Forks High Schools-Red River, Central, East Grand Forks Senior High and Climax-Fisher-Sacred Heart.
At last weekend's EDC Indoor, Heisler said coaches from Fargo school mentioned how strange it was to get on a bus and travel to Grand Forks for an indoor meet.
"Welcome to our world," Heisler said.
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Not only does the HPC provide the local schools an opportunity to compete at home, but it's also a necessary option. The Grand Forks teams' home track of Cushman Field still features snow on the track.
"We've always been thankful to travel to Bemidji for indoor meets," Heisler said. "They've been very good to us. But let's face it, not having to travel two and a half hours by bus is really nice for us."
Prep track
6
GF Invitational
At UND’s High Performance Center, Saturday
Boys team totals
GF Red River 201, GF Central 102, EGF Senior High 68, New Town 60, Wahpeton 58, Fisher/Climax/EGF Sacred Heart 30, Minot Ryan 26, Valley City 20, Larimore 16, Grafton 14, Benson County 14, May-Port-C-G 5, Nelson County 4, Thompson 3, Park River/Fordville-Lankin/Adams-Edmore 3
Top 3 individuals
100 -- 1. Zack Topping, GFRR, :11.64; 2. Blake Moen, EGF, :11.76; 3. Rubensky Lormejuste, Minot Ryan, :11.85
200 -- 1. Topping, GFRR, :24.15; 2. Keandre Thompson, GFRR, :24.31; 3. Cheyenne Hare, GFRR, :24.36
400 -- 1. Marcus Crayton, Fisher-Climax-Sacred Heart, :53.63; 2. Francis Short Bull, NT, :54.64; 3. Tommy Kern, Grafton, :54.78
800 -- 1. Jake Arason, GFRR, 2:03.39; 2. Robert White, NT, 2:05.32; 3. Mustafe Abdi, GFRR, 2:05.55
1,500 -- 1. White, NT, 4:14.73; 2. Arason, GFRR, 4:14.91; 3. Tyson Mahar, EGF, 4:16.49
3,000 -- 1. White, NT, 9:26.98; 2. Tyson Mahar, EGF, 9:32.88; 3. Addison Red Fox, NT, 9:42.01
60 hurdles -- 1. Bryce Enerson, GFRR, :08.91; 2. Jared Eggermont, VC, :09.40; 3. Keandre Anderson, GFRR, :09.74
300 hurdles -- 1. Adam Arnold, GFC, :43.09; 2. Anderson, GFRR, :43.27; 3. Tanner Bernhardson, GFRR, :45.01
4x200 relay -- 1. GF Red River (Topping, Nate Hollingshead, Hare, Enerson) 1:36.44; 2. EGF Senior High 1:38.25; 3. Minot Ryan 1:39.11
4x400 relay -- 1. GF Red River (Nate Pressnell, Keandre Anderson, Jake Arason, Macelles Sartwell) 3:39.09; 2. GF Central 3:40.75; 3. EGF Senior High 3:44.66
4x800 relay -- 1. Wahpeton (Corbin Cornelius, Riley Schmidt, Gus Lasch, Jared Bartels) 8:52.09; 2. GF Red River 8:58.07; 3. New Town 9:09.77
Long jump -- 1. Ben Hoverson, GFC, 19-3; 2. Ben Bohl, Minot Ryan, 18-7; 3. Friday Thomas, Larimore, 18-6
High jump -- 1. Cornelius, Wahpeton, 5-8; 2. Wythe Rynestad, GFC, 5-6; 3. John Fischer, BC, 5-4
Triple jump -- 1. Hoverson, GFC, 41-9; 2. Eggermont, VC, 38-8.5; 3. Cornelius, Wahpeton, 37-6
Pole vault -- 1. Kaden Rohloff, GFRR, 12-6; 2. John Fischer, BC, 12-0; 3. Isaac Wohlers, Wahpeton, 11-6
Shot put -- 1. Brett Klefstad, GFRR, 47-8.5; 2. Chase Olderbak, EGF, 47-1; 3. Luke Vonesh, EGF, 46-3
Girls team totals
GF Red River 201.5, GF Central 90.5, EGF Senior High 85, Valley City 62, Thompson 36, Park River/Fordville-Lankin/Adams-Edmore 34, Wahpeton 33.5, May-Port-C-G 22.5, Minot Ryan 20, Fisher/Climax/EGF Sacred Heart 18, New Town 15, Larimore 4, Nelson County 2
Top 3 individuals
100 -- 1. Mini Jallah, EGF, :13.13; 2. Taylar Baker, GFC, :13.38; 3. VeVe Lee, VC, :13.44
200 -- 1. Jallah, EGF, :27.54; 2. Jocey Kriewald, VC, :28.13; 3. Julia Sveen, PRFLAE, :28.15
400 -- 1. Alex Richards, RR, 1:03.69; 2. Lana Krack, Thompson, 1:04.25; 3. Jessica Remer, Fisher/Climax/Sacred Heart, 1:04.76
800 -- 1. Mikayla Weiss, GFC, 2:27.80; 2. Sydnee Ingstad, VC, 2:33.10; 3. Morgan Stenseth, GFRR, 2:36.35
1,500 -- 1. Weiss, GFC, 5:04.20; 2. Avery Murray, VC, 5:13.69; 3. Reagan Berg, VC, 5:18.04
3,000 -- 1. Lana Krack, Thompson, 10:32.60; 2. Lydia Floden, EGF, 12:02.05; 3. Gracia Larson-Schmidt, GFRR, 12:02.87
60 hurdles -- 1. Mackenzie Severson, GFRR, :09.72; 2. Tyra Harris, GFC, :10.43; 3. Savannah Vasek EGF, :10.58
300 hurdles -- 1. Severson, GFRR, :48.28; 2. Hannah Hynek, GFC, :49.88; 3. Emily DeVries, Wahpeton, :50.22
4x200 relay -- 1. GF Red River (Shri Patel, Alex Richards, Claire Leach, Mackenzie Severson) 1:47.50; 2. GF Central 1:52.49; 3. EGF Senior High 1:52.90
4x400 relay -- 1. GF Red River (Patel, Richards, Claire Leach, Severson) 4:17.45; 2. GF Central 4:24.40; 3. Park River/Fordville-Lankin/Adams-Edmore 4:31.07
4x800 relay -- 1. GF Red River (Morgan Stenseth, Emily Nelson, Claire Lapp, Larson-Schmidt) 10:23.16; 2. EGF Senior High 10:33.09; 3. Valley City 10:47.10
Pole vault -- 1. Nora Peterson, MPCG, 8-6; 2. Savannah King, GFC, 8-6; 3. Katie Stanislawski, EGF, 7-6
Shot put -- 1. Shelby Frank, GFRR, 38-9.5; 2. Jade Azure, GFRR, 36-0.5; 3. Madison Towers, GFRR, 35-4.5
Long jump -- 1. Claire Leach, GFRR, 16-5.5; 2. Rachel Anderson, GFRR, 15-7.5; 3. Lexi Telehey, Thompson, 15-7
Triple jump -- 1. Leach, GFRR, 34-7.5; 2. Leecia Flaten, GFRR, 33-9.5; 3. Peterson, MPCG, 32-11.5
High jump -- 1. Roxy Fish, GFRR, 4-11; 2. Jessica Remer, Fisher-Climax-Sacred Heart, 4-9; 3. Sierra Schramm, PRFLAE, 4-7
