McKenzie County Farmer - Sports

David Gumke
Guest Colomnist

Hank Pankratz Invite 4/29
Thaydan Arnold had another good day in his throwing events. Last week he threw the shot put 50’9” to qualify for state. Today he improved that mark by almost two and a half feet on his final throw in finals to overtake the leader and set a new personal best mark of 53’1”. That throw ranks him fourth overall in the state and third in the class A division. He also matched his best discus throw to place seventh.
The 4x400 relay team of Carter Breitbach, Kyle Best, Judah Mitchell, and Dehico Bocanegra Tovar cut about six seconds from their previous best time to get to within about three seconds of qualifying. Chase Cutshall put together a good series of jumps in the long jump with his best mark of 20’ 5.25”. State qualifying is 20’9”.

Varsity: Team Placed 4th
400: 5. Kyle Best 55.16
800: 3. Dehico Bocanegra Tovar 2:03.97, 6. Kyle Best 2:09.61
1600: 4. Dehico Bocanegra Tovar 4:42.06
300 Hurdles: 4. Chase Cutshall 44.07
4x100 Relay: 3. Chase Cutshall, Junior Alvarez, Wesley Gray, Carter Breitbach 47.93
4x400 Relay: 3. Carter Breitbach, Kyle Best, Judah Mitchell, Dehico Bocanegra Tovar, 3:37.94
Shot Put: 1. Thaydan Arnold 53’1”
Discus: 7. Thaydan Arnold 132’2”
High Jump: 4. Xavier McGorman 5’10”
Long Jump: 4. Chase Cutshall 20’ 5.25”
Triple Jump: 4. Chase Cutshall 38’1.5”

JV: Team Placed 6th
400: 4. Toreyn Murray 1:00.69, 8. Deegan Skaggs 1:03.15
1600: 4. Jayden Suek 5:41.78
300 Hurdles:  5. Colton Lewis 55.47, 6. Elisha Mitchell 1:11.68
4x200 Relay: 1. Wesley Gray, Junior Alvarez, Valente Marquez, Bryson Wolfe 1:40.49
4x400 Relay: 1. Bryson Wolfe, Toreyn Murray, Wesley Gray, James Odenbach, 3:47.13
Javelin: 3. Niko Kasic Segato 95’0”
Pole Vault: 2. James Odenbach 9’6”, 3. Judah Mitchell 8’6”
Long Jump: 8. Andrew Walters 17’ 1.75”

Dickinson Invite 5/2
We took advantage of another nice track meet weather day. Dehico Bocanegra Tovar was a double winner in the 1600 and 800 meter races.  He qualified the 1600 with a time of 4:34.66 which currently ranks him eighteenth in the class A division. He just missed qualifying the 800 by about six tenths of a second. He finished the day with a good split on the 4x400 relay team. I am very impressed with his efforts to run all three of those races with quality times. That is a difficult day of work running those events. Dehico always wants the challenge of competing at meets. There is never an easy day for him.

Chase Cutshall qualified the long jump in dramatic fashion on his last jump in finals with a 20’9” mark that placed him third in the competition and currently ranking him thirty-first in the Class A division. It is so good to see Chase get an event qualified and now use that to focus on his other events that he is more than capable of getting to state in as well.

Thaydan Arnold was a winner in the shot put event with another personal best mark of 53’ 9”, improving his previous mark by eight inches and putting him within seven inches of the current school record that is 54’4” held by Jackson Faller that was set in 2018. Thaydan is now ranked third in the class A division. Thaydan is very motivated and focused on breaking that school record and getting himself on the podium at state.

We have many other guys on our team that are continuing to improve their marks. Watching athletes improve and meet their goals is why the sport of track and field is so rewarding and fun to be a part of. Our meets next week are at home on Tuesday May 6, and in Dickinson for a boys only meet on Saturday May 10th.  We are then only left with the last chance meet and region meet the following week before we head to the state meet May 22-24 in Bismarck at the MDU Community Bowl.
The Team placed 4th out of 17 teams

400: 8. Carter Breitbach 54.05
800: 1. Dehico Bocanegra Tovar 2:02.34
1600: 1. 1. Dehico Bocanegra Tovar 4:34.66 (State Qualifying)
300 Hurdles: 5. James Odenbach 44.10, 8. Chase Cutshall 45.11
4x100 Relay: 7. Bryson Wolfe, Junior Alvarez, Wesley Gray, Jayden Waggoner 48.29
4x200 Relay: 4. Carter Breitbach, Junior Alvarez, Bryson Wolfe, James Odenbach 1:36.82
4x400 Relay: 2. Bryson Wolfe, Kyle Best, Judah Mitchell, Dehico Bocanegra Tovar 3:38.50
4x400 Relay B Team: 6. Toreyn Murrey, Deegan Skaggs, Colton Lewis, Jeremiah Velasquez 3:58.59
Shot Put: 1. Thaydan Arnold 53’9”
Discus: 6. Thaydan Arnold 129’1”
Long Jump: 3. Chase Cutshall 20’9” (State Qualifying), 6. Judah Mitchell 19’6”
Triple Jump: 7. Chase Cutshall 38’10”

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