Test at the West

Jamestown High School junior long-distance runner Alison Allmer came just 7 seconds short of running away with the West Region's individual cross country title at Williston Municipal Golf Course on Saturday.

Allmer, last spring's 1600-meter champion at the Class A state track and field meet, covered the 4,000-meter course in 15 minutes, 17 seconds, finishing second to Bismarck Century's Jordan Jacob. Jacob notched the West Region crown with a time of 15:10, in a race JHS cross country coach Ken Gardner described as quite a battle between the West's top two runners.

"I think it was actually a little closer than (7 seconds). They were having a little trouble with their scoring system, and (Allmer) was right on (Jacob's) tail," Gardner said. "It was a good race. For the first half of it there was a group of four or five runners that were in the hunt, then it was narrowed down to Alison and Jordan.

"It was neck-and-neck until about a quarter-mile to go. Alison's maybe a little disappointed. She wanted to pull out a win there, but I told her we'll see (Jacob) again in two weeks. So, we'll see how it goes there."

Gardner was referring to the state Class A girls' cross country meet, which will be held at Fargo's Rose Creek Golf Course on Oct. 22.

Bismarck High School edged out Century for its fourth consecutive team title at the West Region meet with a low score of 43. Brittany Brownotter posted the Demons' fastest time in the race with a fourth-place run of 15:22.

Century put up a team score of 47, while the Blue Jays finished seventh out of the eight teams with a score of 283.

Allmer was the only Blue Jay runner to finish in the top 50 out of the 118 girls competing. But for the Jays, it's all about the big picture as two Jamestown seventh-graders posted the Blue Jays' next best finishes.

Seventh-graders Ligia Schulz and Maya Moltzen finished in 64th and 65th, respectively, with times of 18:05 and 18:15.

"It's good to see those two moving up the ranks," Gardner said. "That bodes well for the future."

Rounding out Jamestown's top five finishers were sophomores Brittney O'Neill and Kaiann Arellano. O'Neill took 74th with a time of 18:44, while Arellano finished 78th with a time of 18:50.

"Kaiann didn't have her best race. She struggled a bit and has been our No. 2 runner for a lot of the year," Gardner said. "So that's one that could pick it up the next couple of weeks, compared to where she was (on Saturday)."

Bismarck High School continued its dominance over the West Region during the boys' 5,000-meter race.

The first five runners to cross the finish line were all Demons, as the Bismarck boys won their seventh straight West Region title and posted the first perfect score (15) by a boys team in the history of the West Region meet.

"They are impressive," Gardner said. "They're tough and they're deep."

The Demons had 12 athletes finish in the top 30, led by Jake Leingang, who won his second straight West Region individual title with a time of 15:50.

The Blue Jays were paced by eighth-grader Kyle Schumacher, who finished 38th with a time of 18:35. Jamestown's Joe Jensen (18:47) and Aaron Ford (18:47) also finished in the top 50, crossing the line back-to-back in 43rd and 44th place, respectively.

"Schumacher has been in our top five all season and has been steadily moving up. It was nice to see him take charge and run strong the whole race," Gardner said. "Younger runners sometimes see these upper classmen that they're usually behind, and it was nice to see him have the mental fortitude to go out and pass a few of them.

"Joe Jensen has been consistent all year. That was no surprise but I was glad to see him have a consistent and solid race at the WDA."

Jamestown junior Phil Manley finished 82nd with a time of 19:37, while senior Jake Nieland crossed the line in 89th in a time of 19:56.

"Jake and Phil finished back at No. 5 and No. 6 for us, and for most of the year they've been our No. 1 and No. 2," Gardner said. "That was maybe a little let down for them, but we've got a couple of more meets left."

Jamestown's No. 4 runner was junior Michael Sorenson. Sorenson finished 59th with a time of 19:10.

The Jays will compete in one more meet prior to the state meet. Jamestown will be traveling to Fargo to partake in the Andrew Carlson Invite on Wednesday, which will also be held at Rose Creek Golf Course.

"We're going to the same course two more times, and that's it," Gardner said. "The week before state we'll be working on resting up to hit our peak performances. We hope we stay healthy and the weather holds."

Class A West Region Cross Country Meet

Williston Municipal Golf Course

Saturday

Boys results

Team scores

1. Bismarck 15. 2. Century 84. 3. Williston 120. 4. Minot 124. 5. Dickinson 149. 6. Mandan 157. 7. Jamestown 266. 8. Turtle Mountain 381

Top 20

(All-conference)

1, Jake Leingang, B, 15:50. 2. Todd Austin B, 16:41. 3. Brandon Berg, B, 16:42. 4. Lane Kashur, B, 16:44. 5. Preston Lerew, B, 16:48. 6. Brennan Goldade, W, 17:09. 7. Chris Chamberlin, W, 17:11. 8. Cataldo DiDonna, C, 17:13. 9. Bryce Rohrich, B, 17:15. 10. Logan Fischer, B, 17:19.

11. Jackson Binstock, D, 17:23. 12. Cody Humann, B, 17:27. 13. Jacob Knife, TM, 17:31. 14. Dylan Sether, C, 17:33. 15. Allen Forrest, C, 17:34. 16. Vlad Kutka, D, 17:43. 17. Karl Joyner, Min, 17:44. 18. Chad Zachmeier, Man, 17:46. 19. Sage Walz, C, 17:46. 20. Lucas Bussmann, Man, 17:48.

JHS Results

38, Kyle Schumacher, 18:35; 43, Joe Jensen, 18:47; 44, Aaron Ford, 18:47; 59, Michael Sorensen, 19:10; 82, Phil Manley, 19:37; 89, Jake Nieland, 19:56; 93, Braydon Love, 20:17; 99, Hunter Braunberger, 20:37; 120, Alex Igl, 21:50; 140, Cody Kenna, 23:42; 144, Jason Johnson, 23:51; 147, Kyle Gee, 24:06; 151, Tyler Newton, 25:55.

Girls results

Team scores

1. Bismarck 43. 2. Century 47. 3. Minot 86. 4. Mandan 121. 5. Dickinson 130. 6. Williston 135. 7. Jamestown 283. 8. Turtle Mountain 596.

Top 20

(All-conference)

1. Jordan Jacob, C, 15:10. 2. Allison Allmer, J, 15:17. 3. Samantha Huether, Min, 15:20. 4. Brittany Brownotter, B, 15:22. 5. Lexi Zeis, B, 15:30. 6. Morgan Pierce, B, 15:36. 7. Elizabeth, Rohrer, Min, 15:50. 8. Melin Page, C, 15:53. 9. Tessa Haussler, B, 15:54. 10. Jaiden Schuette, C, 15:59.

11. Alica Fettig, C, 16:13. 12. Rachel Wingenbach, Man, 16:14. 13. Taryn Ceglowski, W, 16:16. 14. Stephanie Hueuther, Min, 16:19. 15. Whitney Breuer, Man, 16:23. 16. Meleah Leiss, D, 16:32. 17. Taryn Neameyer, C, 16:32. 18. Laura Laber, C, 16:34. 19. Kayla Wald, B, 16:37. 20. Kayla Tyrell, D, 16:39.

Other JHS results

64, Ligia Schulz, 18:05; 65, Maya Moltzen, 18:15; 74, Brittney O'Neill, 18:44; 78, Kaiann Arellano, 18:50; 87, Julie Fuchs, 19:22; 88, Elizabeth Entzel, 19:31; 94, Anna Larson, 19:57; 97, Karen Jaspers, 20:09.

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com