The relay of life

Over May 23-25, I attended my third North Dakota State Track and Field Meet for the New Rockford Transcript as a photographer.

The first state track meet I ever covered was the year my stepbrother, Kaden Jensen, was a senior. This was the first time Kaden had ever competed at the state level as well.

Kaden made the podium for three-of-four events that year. In his individual events, he took second place in long jump, seventh place in high jump and ninth place in triple jump. He also ran as the anchor in the boys' 4x100-meter relay with teammates Porter Granger, Easton Benz and Connor Knatterud. The relay team finished in fourth overall.

Since then, state track has just been my thing to cover.

The past couple of years have been exciting, especially watching all the local athletes compete, with some even becoming state champions.

However, this year's track meet was different.

With New Rockford-Sheyenne senior Kelsie Belquist unable to compete due to a torn ACL suffered back in February, it didn't feel the same as the past two years.

Just last year, Kelsie was a four-time state champion in the girls' 200-meter dash, the 400-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.

I'm sure most people, including myself, had been looking forward to watching Kelsie blaze her past records and earn four more state championships, but life chose a different path for her.

But watching her on the sidelines coaching her teammates makes me realize how great of a coach she will be in years to come.

Another change was watching athletes from Fort Totten – specifically Deng Deng, Dalen Leftbear, Micah Dutch and Marial Deng – competing in their first-ever state track meet.

It's such a whirlwind being on the track taking photos of all of these great athletes competing. There were so many opportunities to capture photos of superior athletes – especially from around the area.

I watched as Fort Totten senior Deng Deng clinched his first ever state championship in the boys' high jump event after joining track for the first time this year. His classmate and cousin, Dalen Leftbear, also competed in high jump and earned a seventh place finish in the state after clearing 6 feet flat.

Deng Deng also competed in the boys' long jump event, where he finished in second place with a jump of 21 feet, 10¾ inches. Back on May 13, Deng broke the NR-S school record in this event – which was set back in 2019 by Bo Belquist with a distance of 21 feet, 8¾ inches. With his jump at state, he had once again broken the record.

Carrington senior Logan Weninger pushed himself as hard as he could in all of his events, hoping he wouldn't re-injure his hamstring that he has been fighting with since January. Logan earned himself a second place finish in the 300-meter hurdles – and even broke a Carrington High School record! He also took sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles, only his second time competing in that event this season.

Carrington junior Ryder Bickett was also a force to be reckoned with. Ryder was named the state champion in the Class B boys javelin event after lodging it an impressive 189 feet, 10 inches.

I've kept track of Harvey/Wells County junior Tallen Thorson over the past years, as he has excelled in the boys' hurdles events. Over the three days of state track, Tallen worked his tail off and it paid off as he earned the badge of state champion in both the boys' 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.

Griggs-Midkota junior Levi Kautzman was another top placer from around the area. He competed in the boys shot put, where he took second place overall with a throw of 54 feet, ½ inches.

There were many other bombshell moments at state track this year.

The Fargo South boys' 4x200-meter relay team – made up of Jaylen Runnels, Justin Zulu, A'Johntez Moore and Austin Zulu – were the first relay team in North Dakota to run the relay in under 1:26.00 with their time of 1:25.87.

Bowman County junior Taylor Wanner broke a 39-year record in the Class B boys' 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.18. The record was set back in 1985 by Paulo Costa of Killdeer, N.D.

The best moment, however, came from the NR-S boys' 4x100-meter relay team.

I knew they had made the finals for the event after taking third place in their heat, and had just assumed they'd bring home third or fourth place.

Micah Dutch ran the first leg, followed by Porter Granger and Deng Deng. NR-S senior, Connor Knatterud, ran as the anchor.

After the handoff between Deng and Connor, the team was sitting in roughly fifth place. Out of nowhere, Connor kicked it in gear and brought out a first place finish with a Class B boys' new meet record time of 43.32 seconds.

I remember watching Connor speed down the track and thinking "oh my gosh, he's gonna win it." Seconds later I felt tears of joy falling down my face as I said, "OH MY GOSH THEY JUST WON THAT!!"

The last time my eyes filled with tears of happiness at a track meet was last year when Kelsie ran her 200-meter dash in under 24 seconds, making her the only girls' athlete in North Dakota to run under that time.

So yes, this state track meet was different for me, but different in a good way.

I can only hope that the local track teams continue to grow, with more athletes competing at the state meet in the years to come. It's such a great experience – even for a non-track person like me.

Congratulations to all the athletes who competed, and thank you for allowing me to capture photos of you this season.

I look forward to many more years of covering high school sports for my local newspaper!