Wolves have good showing at State Indoor Track Meet
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City took a limited number of athletes to the 2015 State Indoor Track Meet this past Saturday in Fargo. But while Watford City’s numbers were low, Greg Brown, girls’ head coach, and Dave Gumke, boys’ head coach, were pleased with the way their athletes performed.
In the girls division, Ricki Lindley was a double state champion as she won the long jump with a leap of 16’7” and captured first in the triple jump with leap of 36’9.5”.
Mikka Haugeberg also won first place in the pole vault with a personal best vault of 10’0”.
“Ricki continued her dominance in the jumps this last weekend, winning both the long jump and triple jump,” stated Brown. “We just need to keep her focused and understanding that we do not need to jump every meet as hard as we did the first two meets.”
Overall, the Watford City girls team, which only consisted of four athletes, took sixth place with 46 points.
Also placing on the girls team was Lea Arndt with a seventh place finish in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 10:76; while the 800 meter relay team of Nessa Mathews, Mikka Haugeberg, Lea Arndt and Ricki Lindley took third with a time of 1:55.07.
Watford City’s only other place finisher was Nessa Mathews who took second in the shot put with a throw of 41’7”.
“Nessa opened up on shot put and got her best throw since she has moved to Watford City,” stated Brown. “I am very excited about how she started off this year with six excellent throws, and as we go through the season, she will continue to improve.”
In the boys division, Watford City placed all six athletes that competed at the State Indoor Meet with the Wolves taking fifth place out of 23 teams.
“It is the first time since I have been at Watford City that we have gone to this meet,” stated Gumke. “It was a great experience for the guys. The last two indoor meets have helped us get a head start on a very short season.”
Brenden Leaming placed in three events with a second place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 53.38. He also took third in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.15 and finished in eighth place in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.91.
Also placing individually for Watford City was Kyle Cook, Raehs Puetz, Cole McGorman and Rait Elliot.
Ryan Cook took sixth place in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:16.29, while Puetz placed in two running events as he took seventh place in the 3,200 meter run with a time of 11:33.51 and took eighth place in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 5:03.48. McGorman took sixth place in the triple jump with a leap of 35’0” and finished in seventh place in the high jump with a leap of 5’6”, while Bo Cook finished in fourth place in the high jump with a leap of 5’8”. Elliot took seventh place in the triple jump with a leap of 34’11”.
The Watford City boys also placed in two relay events with the 1,600 meter relay team, consisting of Bo Cook, Rait Elliot, Kyle Cook and Brenden Leaming, taking third with a time of 3:53.13, and the 800 meter relay team, consisting of Bo Cook, Cole McGorman, Kyle Cook and Rait Elliot, taking sixth with a time of 1:46.51.