Allmer finishes second

FARGO — Tarin Lachowitzer is going out on top.

The Fargo Davies senior captured her third consecutive individual title with a time of 14 minutes, 16.62 seconds at the North Dakota Class A girls state cross country meet Saturday at Rose Creek Golf Course.

“I was really striving for this, but I didn’t know how it was going to go,” said Lachowitzer, whose finish helped the Eagles to their second consecutive team title. “I was really, really nervous for this. It’s very cool, and I am so excited about this.”

Lachowitzer, who won her first championship as a member of Fargo South and the last two at Davies, beat out Jamestown’s Alison Allmer, who finished third last year, by almost three seconds.

“She was really happy,” said JHS coach Ken Gardner. “Her time (14:19) was by far her personal best.”

Lachowitzer stayed a few meters behind the leaders for much of the first half of the race, biding her time before making her move at about the two-mile mark.

Lachowitzer admitted feeling a little uneasy when Bismarck Century freshman Jordan Jacob blasted into the lead and maintained a torrid pace for a lengthy stretch at the start.

However, Lachowitzer had plenty left in the tank to overtake the leaders well before the home stretch.

Jacob was third with a time of 14:28.0.

“They looked so strong and I wasn’t sure if I could do this,” said Lachowitzer, who has narrowed her college choices to North Dakota State and Montana. “I just had faith and I kept going.”

Davies had five runners in the top 20: Katie Bye finished fourth; Carly Bertsch fifth; Erica Johnson 17th; Kelsey Zastoupil 20th.

Bismarck was a distant second at 75 and Bismarck Century was third with 93.

“When it comes to races we know what we have to do,” Lachowitzer said. “This year the whole team atmosphere has been that much more intense, but we are having even more fun with it.”

Jamestown’s Kaiann Arellano finished 73rd with a time of 16:33 and teammate Brittney O’Neill came in 109th after crossing the line in 17:07. Maya Moltzen and Elizabeth Entzel followed close behind in 115th and 125th, respectively, to help the Blue Jays to a 15th-place team finish.

“There were nine that had season bests and of those nine, six of them set PRs for a 4K race” said Gardner. “As a coaching staff, we can’t ask for anything more than they did (on Saturday).”

Demons wins Class A champs

Jake Leingang would be enough for most cross country teams. However, Bismarck is fortunate enough to have five others just like him.

The Demons had six runners in the top seven en route to a runaway victory.

“I didn’t really know what to expect in this one, because I haven’t run this course before,” said Leingang, who finished first with a time of 14 minutes, 59.80 seconds. “I was just trying to go with a plan to run pretty even.”

Leingang, a junior who won the prestigious Roy Griak boys Gold race earlier this year in Minneapolis, was dominant en route to his second consecutive individual title.

He shot out to a commanding lead in the opening mile and cruised the rest of the way for the win.

Leingang finished more than 45 seconds ahead of second-place teammate Lane Kashur.

Bismarck’s Preston Lerew was third, Austin Todd was fifth, Brandon Berg sixth and Bryce Rohrich seventh.

The top five runners score points for each team. That means Rohrich’s standout performance didn’t even factor in the final decision.

Bismarck finished first in the team race with 17 points. Dickinson was second at 125 and Grand Forks Central was third at 141.

“My goal was to come in and try to get in under 15 minutes,” Leingang said. “I am happy with my time.”

Todd was selected as senior athlete of the year. Bismarck’s Dave Zittleman and Darrell Anderson were named coaches of the year.

“There are always more things you can do to get better,” Leingang said. “I’m just going to keep doing that and hopefully get better for regionals, and try to make it to nationals. Hopefully, I’m at the top of my game by then.”

Jamestown finished 13th as a team behind Michael Sorensen’s 67th-place finish. The junior finished with a time of 17:46.2.

“He was kind of our sleeper,” Gardner said. “It was good to see him finish the season strong.”

Joe Jensen followed in 79th and eighth-grader Kyle Schumacher placed 84th. Aaron Ford and Phil Manley rounded out the top five by finishing 110th and 116th, respectively.

“We hadn’t had anybody finish in under 18 minutes, but on Saturday we had three,” said Gardner. “I was really, really excited to see the way we went out.”

Boys

Team results: 1. Bismarck 17. 2. Dickinson 125. 3. Grand Forks Central 141. 4. Fargo Davies 174. 5. Williston 184. 6. West Fargo 187. 7. Grand Forks Red River 198. 8. Bismarck Century 199. 9. Minot 201. 10. Fargo North 204. 11. Shanley/Oak Grove 206. 12. Mandan 299. 13. Jamestown 456. 14. Fargo South 547. 15. Turtle Mountain 550. 16. Devils Lake 576. 17. Valley City 641. 18.Wahpeton 649.

Top 40 individual results: 1, Jake Leingang, Bismarck, 14:59.8; 2, Lane Kashur, Bismarck, 15:45.5; 3, Preston Lerew, Bismarck, 15:55.1; 4, Chris Chamberlain, Williston, 15:56.8; 5, Austin Todd, Bismarck, 15:55.0; 6, Brandon Berg, Bismarck, 15:58.0; 7, Bryce Rohrich, Bismarck, 16:14.3; 8, Branden Scheel, Fargo Davies, 16:18.1; 9, Vlad Kutka, Dickinson, 16:21.5; 10, Cataldo DiDonna, Bismarck Century, 16:22.4; 11, Brennan Goldade, Williston, 16:24.8; 12, Matt Gotta, Bismarck, 16:25.1; 13, Tanner Bjorlie, Fargo North, 16:25.5; 14, Seb Startz, Shanley/Oak Grove, 16:26.1; 15, Darin Baltezore, West Fargo, 16:29.1; 16, Paul Shafer, Grand Forks Central, 16:39.2; 17, Andrew Weist, Fargo North, 16:39.4; 18, Jackson Binstock, Dickinson, 16:39.7; 19, Tom Fisher, Grand Forks Central, 16:45.9; 20, Austin Albrecht, West Fargo, 16:48.4. 21, Michael Porter, Dickinson, 16:50.6; 22, Logan Fischer, Bismarck, 16:52.4; 23, Matt Tingum, Grand Forks Red River, 16:53.3; 24, Tom Startz, Shanley/Oak Grove, 16:53.5; 25, Camron Roehl, Grand Forks Central, 16:54.0; 26, Ben Bitter, Fargo Davies, 16:56.4; 27, Chad Zachmeier, Mandan, 17:01.3; 28, Cody Humann, Bismarck, 17:05.4; 29, Joseph Sickler, Dickinson, 17:05.5; 30, Dylan Weber, Minot, 17:07.5; 31, Nathan Aswege, West Fargo, 17:08.3; 32, Sage Walz, Bismarck Century, 17:11.2; 33, Ethan Norstog, Fargo Davies, 17:15.0; 34, Derek Petty, Grand Forks Central, 17:16.2; 35, Jon Fishbeck, Mandan, 17:19.7; 36, Billy Sartwell, Minot, 17:19.9; 37, Byley Bercier, Turtle Mountain, 17:21.7; 38, Adam Leach, Grand Forks Red River, 17:23.7; 39, Brad Conant, Shanley/Oak Grove, 17:24.0; 40, Dylan Sether, Bismarck Century, 17:25.1.

Senior athlete of the year: Austin Todd, Bismarck

Coach of the year: Darrell Anderson and Dave Zittleman, Bismarck

Girls

Team results: 1. Fargo Davies 47. 2. Bismarck 75. 3. Bismarck Century 93. 4. Minot 148. 5. Fargo South 151. 6. Fargo North 156. 7. West Fargo 193. 8. Williston 209. 9. Mandan 279. 10. Shanley/Oak Grove 280. 11. Dickinson 303. 12. Valley City 313. 13. Grand Forks Red River 406. 14. Grand Forks Central 417. 15. Jamestown 424. 16. Devils Lake 564. 17. Wahpeton 682. 18. Turtle Mountain 795.

Top 40 individual results: 1, Tarin Lachowitzer, Fargo Davies, 14:16.7; 2, Alison Allmer, Jamestown, 14:19.4; 3, Jordan Jacob, Bismarck Century, 14:28.0; 4, Katie Bye, Fargo Davies, 14:32.1; 5, Carly Bertsch, Fargo Davies, 14:38.8; 6, Madeline Strandemo, Fargo South, 14:46.2; 7, Morgan Pierce, Bismarck, 14:47.8; 8, Samantha Huether, Minot 14:48.2; 9, Lexi Zeis, Bismarck, 14:53.8; 10, Paige Melin, Bismarck Century, 14:56.7; 11, Kate Bostrom, Fargo South, 14:58.3; 12, Grace Gannon, Bismarck, 15:05.3; 13, Elizabeth Rohrer, Minot, 15:07.1; 14, Taryn Ceglowski, Williston, 15:09.8; 15, Alex Backlund, Shanley/Oak Grove, 15:10.9; 16, Whitney Breuer, Mandan, 15:11.8; 17, Erica Johhnson, Fargo Davies, 15:12.3; 18, April Berntson, Valley City, 15:14.7; 19, Brittany Brownotter, Bismarck, 15:15.0; 20, Kelsey Zastoupil, Fargo Davies, 15:22.0.

21, McKenna Vetter, Fargo Davies, 15:25.0; 22, Jackie Harmon, Fargo North, 15:27.9; 23, Christine Baltezore, West Fargo, 15:32.6; 24, Alicia Fettig, Bismarck Century, 15:33.7; 25, Jaiden Schuette, Bismarck Century, 15:34.8; 26, Sydney Pladson, Fargo North, 15:36.1; 27, Olivia Larsen, Williston, 15:37.8; 28, Tessa Haussler, Bismarck, 15:42.7; 29, Stephanie Huether, Minot, 15:47.0; 30, Meleah Leiss, Dickinson, 15:49.7; 31, Taryn Neameyer, Bismarck Century, 15:49.9; 32, Molly Sarafolean, Fargo North, 15:50.9; 33, Alicia Swenson, Fargo North, 15:51.7; 34, Emily Bitz, Fargo South, 15:54.4; 35, Jen Benz, Bismarck Century, 15:55.1; 36, Maddie Bessler, Fargo South, 15:55.1; 37, Andrea Milbrath, West Fargo, 15:55.8; 38, Leah Hermanson, West Fargo, 15:56.1; 39, Emil Tyrell, Dickinson, 16:01.9; 40, Kiyana Miller, Mandan, 16:02.2. Senior athlete of the year: Tarin Lachowitzer, Fargo Davies Coach of the year: Lisa Svaleson, Fargo Davies

Tags: cross country, sports