Hillsboro, Rugby win ‘B’ titles

FARGO — Hillsboro’s rise to prominence is complete.

The Burros had three runners in the top 20 en route to first place at the North Dakota Class B state girls cross country meet Saturday at Rose Creek Golf Course.

“We were hoping,” said Hillsboro freshman Shayla Fossum, who finished fourth. “We were excited for this.”

The Burros’ title stemmed from a tenacious head coach, and a willingness of several volleyball players to pull double-duty.

Hillsboro coach Kirk Zink worked for three years to get runners to commit to the cross country program. The team had just two runners last year, including Zink’s daughter, Brooklyn.

This season several girls agreed to come aboard if they could work their schedules around volleyball. Nine of the Burros’ 11 runners play volleyball.

That led to a solid group of runners that immediately put Hillsboro in contention. The Burros also captured the East Region title.

“Our parents really pushed us to come out,” Fossum said. “With all of us in practice, we push each other. It’s a great team sport. It’s nice to have everybody out there.”

Hillsboro’s Mariah Fossum was 15th and Brooklyn Zink was 20th.

Watford City was second in the team race with 148 points. Rugby finished third at 177.

Robyn Essler of Garrison won the individual championship with a time of 14 minutes, 52.6 seconds. Asha Smith of Watford City was second at 14:54.3.

Wells wins boys’ division

Parshall senior Ken Wells is planning to join the Marine Corps after high school.

He likely won’t have much of an issue with running long distances during basic training.

Wells earned his second consecutive individual state championship during the North Dakota Class B state cross country meet Saturday at Rose Creek Golf Course.

“I want to start out fast, break away from the group and finish strong at the end,” Wells said. “I felt like I ran strong today.”

Wells appeared effortless throughout the 5-kilometer run around Rose Creek.

He broke away from the pack early, navigated the small hills with no problem and had plenty of kick left as he crossed the finish line.

Wells finished in a time of 16 minutes, 12.7 seconds. Donovan Lambert of Shiloh Christian was second at 16:47.4.

“Running through the crowd gets you pumped up and it made me run a little faster,” Wells said.

Rugby earned the team title with 114 points.

The team had three runners finish in the top 18: Erik Wangler (8th); Kyle Halvorson (9th); Tanner Bernhardt (18th).

New Town, which has won six of the last seven Class B boys titles, was second with 129 points. Lisbon finished third with 175.

Boys

Team results: 1. Rugby 114. 2. New Town 129. 3. Lisbon 175. 4. Grafton 177. 5. Central Cass 186. 6. Beulah/Hazen 229. 7. Griggs County Central 260. 8. Bowman County 262. 9. Watford City 314. 10. Sargent Central 352. 11. Parshall 405. 12. North Star 413. 13. Shiloh Christian 430. 14. Tioga/Trinity Christian/Ray 457. 15. Four Winds/Warwick 468. 16. Langdon Area 494. 17. Stanley 505. 18. Cavalier 522. 19. Dunseith 564. 20. Velva 567. 21. Hatton/Northwood/Thompson 578. 22. Medina 598. 23. Mandaree 601. 24. Richland 608. 25. Garrison 644. 26. Larimore 665. 27. White Shield 715. 28. Beach 732. 29. Solen-Cannonball 756. 30. Minot Bishop Ryan 772. 31. Hillsboro 790. 32. Standing Rock 806. 33. Hebron 826. 34. Barnes County North 828. 35. Carrington 830. 36. Killdeer 838.

Top 40 individual results: 1, Ken Wells, Parshall, 16:12.7; 2, Donovan Lambert, Shiloh Christian, 16:47.4; 3, Lincoln Larson, North Star, 16:58.7; 4, Thomas Horgeshimer, Lisbon, 17:06.6; 5, Clyde Baker, New Town, 17:15.2; 6, Jacob Gallagher, Lisbon, 17:18.8; 7, DeVan Helmoski, Grafton, 17:33.0; 8, Erik Wangler, Rugby, 17:37.2; 9, Kyle Halverson, Rugby, 17:39.6; 10, Luke Ressler, Griggs County Central, 17:49.5; 11, Michael Palczewski, Bowman County, 17:55.9; 12, Elliott Stone, Shiloh Christian, 17:56.9; 13, Jacob Garza, Grafton, 17:57.0; 14, Ryan Gapp, Langdon Area, 17:57.2; 15, Joshua Mangin, Central Cass, 18:02.5; 16, Alex Askerooth, Sargent Central, 18:02.9; 17, Lucas Nadeau, Dunseith, 18:05.0; 18, Tanner Bernhardt, Rugby, 18:05.4; 19, Daniel Kuntz, Velva, 18:07.6; 20, Tim Clifton, Griggs County Central, 18:09.0.

21, Josh Olson, Tioga/Trinity Christian/Ray, 18:15.5; 22, Kyle Schultz, Central Cass, 18:21.0; 23, Ryan Wheeling, New Town, 18:21.2; 24, Nick Pedersen, Hatton/Northwood/Thompson, 18:22.7; 25, Dailray Connor, Parshall, 18:24.6; 26, Bridger Belzer, North Star, 18:26.0; 27, Donovan Williams, Lisbon, 18:26.3; 28, Ryan Faber, Stanley, 18:26.9; 29, Robert Finneseth, Velva, 18:29.1; 30, Taylor DeMers, Rugby, 18:3.0; 31, Joe Baker, New Town, 18:38.7; 32, Kieran Hall, Lisbon, 18:41.7; 33, Joe Chase, New Town, 18:42.3; 34, Chace Hale, Parshall, 18:42.8; 35, Nic Lundquist, Grafton, 18:44.5; 36, Calvin Aichele, Beulah/Hazen, 18:45.3; 37, Dylan Bear, New Town, 18:47.6; 38, Danny Skoglund, Beach, 18:49.8; 39, Austin Rust, Central Cass, 18:56.2; 40, Matthew Gapp, Langdon Area, 18:57.0.

Senior athlete of the year: Ken Wells, Parshall

Coach of the year: Brian Anderson, New Town

Girls

Team results: 1. Hillsboro 125. 2. Watford City 148. 3. Rugby 177. 4. Surrey 198. 5. Velva 211. 6. Carrington 221. 7. Grafton 223. 8. Parshall 237. 9. New Town 274. 10. Killdeer 315. 11. Stanley 348. 12. Griggs County Central 368. 13. Southern McLean 375. 14. Hatton/Northwood/Thompson 382. 15. Langdon Area 435. 16. Minot Bishop Ryan 435. 17. Shiloh Christian 487. 18. Bowman County 495. 19. Barnes County North 558. 20. North Star 593. 21. Dunseith 597. 22. Beulah/Hazen 610. 23. Cavalier 641. 24. May-Port-C-G 664. 25. Central Cass 690. 26. Larimore 716. 27, Four Winds/Warwick 733. 28. Garrison 777. 29. Richland 780. 30. Hebron 811. 31. Tioga/Trinity Christian/Ray 832. 32. Sargent Central 843. 33. LaMoure 875. 34. Madaree 887. 35. Lisbon 912. 36. Medina 918. 37. Standing Rock 943. 38. Solen-Cannonball 982.

Top 40 individual results: 1, Robyn Essler, Garrison, 14:52.6; 2, Asha Smith, Watford City, 14:54.3; 3, Abi Waloch, Southern McLean, 15:27.0; 4, Shayla Fossum, Hillsboro, 15:27.0; 5, Averi Olson, Hatton/Northwood/Thompson, 15:31.4; 6, Alexis Woods, Parshall, 15:33.0; 7, Tasha Heisler, Velva, 15:33.8; 8, Kade Ross, Watford City, 15:34.6; 9, Chandra Yankton, Dunseith, 15:40.0; 10, Leah Oien, Griggs County Central, 15:45.7; 11, Sydney Kraft, Rugby, 15:52.6; 12, Mackenzie Holkesvig, Hatton/Nortwood/Thompson, 15:55.1; 13, Miriah Forness, Shiloh Christian, 15:57.4; 14, Lauren Christenson, Rugby, 16:01.3; 15, Mariah Fossum, Hillsboro, 16:07.0; 16, Patience Albertson, Surrey, 16:07.0; 17, Kennedy Rude, Langdon Area, 16:07.1; 18, Tess Hoherz, Stanley, 16:07.4; 19, Symbria Bell, New Town, 16:08.2; 20, Brooklyn Zink, Hillsboro, 16:08.5.

21, Allison Klein, Surrey, 16:09.5; 22, Peyton Halverson, North Star, 16:29.3; 23, Breanne Sherlock, Velva, 16:37.5; 24, Ann Endres, Carrington, 16:38.0; 25, Tess Scott, Barnes County North, 16:38.4; 26, Kiara Packineau, Parshall, 16:38.5; 27, Ashley Brodehl, Surrey, 16:40.6; 28, Regan Watson, Shiloh Christian, 16:41.4; 29, Ashley Neumiller, Carrington, 16:44.0; 30, Madison Gapp, Langdon Area, 16:44.5; 31, Addison Sundeen, Watford City, 16:45.7; 32, Allison Foster, Rugby, 16:46.5; 33, Devanee Hale, Parshall, 16:48.1; 34, Lexi Woinarowicz, Grafton, 16:49.3; 35, Annika Rotvold, Hillsboro, 16:51.3; 36, Nessa Iverson, Beulah Hazen, 16:53.1; 37, Lea Arndt, Watford City, 16:53.4; 38, Skye Schaper, Killdeer, 16:53.4; 39, McKenna Weisenburger, Southern McLean, 16:54.7; 40, Amanda Indergaard, Carrington, 16:55.8.

Senior athlete of the year: Sydney Kraft, Rugby

Coach of the year: Greg Brown, Watford City

Tags: class b, cross country, sports