Kutka leads Midgets in Valley City Invite

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VALLEY CITY — The Dickinson cross country teams grabbed third place honors Saturday during the Valley City Invitational at McDowell Dam.

This marked the first season that Dickinson head coach Shawn Leiss has ran at McDowell Dam.

“It’s always nice to have something fresh and go to a new place,” he said. “It was almost universal. Everybody really liked the McDowell Dam location.”

Dickinson finished third with a 106, trailing winner Bismarck (16) and runner-up Grand Forks Central (106).

Vlad Kutka led the Dickinson boys’ with a seventh place finish at 16 minutes, 43 seconds. Jackson Binstock jumped into the top 10 with a 10th place finish (16:55). Joseph Sickler followed not far behind in 14th place (17:04).

“Right now we are searching for the formula that will get five guys in there a little bit better,” Leiss said. “We are playing with pace and mixing things up a little bit.”

On the girls’ side, Dickinson placed third with a 94, while Bismarck won (50) and Century came in second (52).

“We certainly have our eyes in front of us,” Leiss said. “We want to track Bismarck and Century down.”

Whitney Schatz had been cleared to run with the team. Schatz finished in 34th place (16:57). Freshman Emily Tyrrell led the Midgets in 10th place (15:48).

“We want to ease Whitney back in and have her gain some of her confidence back,” Leiss said. “We have a few more opportunities to compete.”

Tyrrell continues to cut down on her best time. In fact, multiple runners ran their best times this season at McDowell Dam.

“When people start seeing their times coming down and are running their personal best that’s something they feel good about,” Leiss said.

The Midgets get a little time away from the North Dakota competition. Dickinson travels to Rapid City (S.D.) on Saturday for the Rapid City Invitational.

Valley City Invitational

Boys

Team scores: Bismarck 16, Grand Forks Central 81, Dickinson 106, Grand Forks Red River 122, Century 133, Mandan 192, New Town 246, Beluah/Hazen 315, Turtle Mountain 325, Bowman County 359, Watford City 363, Shiloh 395, Jim Hill 400, Garrison 428, Solen 435, Standing Rock 435.

Individual top 10: 1, Jake Leingang, Bismarck, 15:12. 2, Austin Todd, Bismarck 16:17. 3, Brandon Berg, Bismarck, 16:17. 4, Lane Kashur, Bismarck, 16:18. 5, Paul Shafer, Grand Forks Central, 16:22. 6, Preston Lerew, Bismarck, 16:38. 7, Vladimir Kutka, Dickinson, 16:43. 8, Matt Tingum, Grand Forks Red River, 16:44. 9, Tom Fisher, Grand Forks Central, 16:54. 10, Jackson Binstock, Dickinson, 16:55.

DHS finishers: 14, Joseph Sickler 17:04. 36, Gabrial Dschaak 17:57. 39, Paul Gardner 18:03. 43, Zachary Obrigewitch 18:11. 50, Bradley Messer 18:36. 53, Austin Mack 18:46. 65, Samuel Metz 19:17.

Girls

Team scores: Bismarck 50, Century 52, Dickinson 94, Minot 99, Mandan 124, Grand Forks Central 179, Grand Forks Red River 180, Watford City 243, Killdeer 258, Southern McLean 313, Shiloh 359, Garrison 365, New Town 383, Standing Rock 440.

Individual top 10: 1, Jordan Jacob, Century, 15:00. 2, Lexi Zeis, Bismarck, 15:03. 3, Brittany Brownotter, Bismarck, 15:23. 4, Robyn Essler, Garrison, 15:27. 5, Paige Melin, Century, 15:29. 6, Elizabeth Rohrer, Minot, 15:33. 7, Samantha Huether, Minot, 15:36. 8, Alicia Fettig, Century, 15:42. 9, Rachel Wingenbach, Mandan 15:48. 10, Emily Tyrrell, Dickinson, 15:48.

DHS finishers: 14, Meleah Leiss 16:02. 25, Kelli Pavlicek 16:37. 29, Shannon Stockert 16:45. 33, Alyssa Hanson 16:56. 34, Whitney Schatz 16:57. 42, Katie Pavlicek 17:10. 43, Shelby Stoltz 17:11. 46, Morgan Kuntz 17:15. 62, Cienna Levorsen 17:41. 64, Lynae Messer 17:43.

Midgets take second place at Century Invitational

BISMARCK — Sophomores Riana Cooper and Rachel Jahner helped the Dickinson girls golf team punch its ticket to state.

The Midgets finished second with a 348, 20 strokes behind Century. Due to finishing in the top two-thirds in team stands Dickinson is going to the state tournament on Oct. 3 in Fargo. Cooper placed third to lead the Midgets with a 78, while Jahner finished up with an 85 and Kira Haag with an 87.

Century posted a 328 with Alex Leidholm taking first place after winning two-hole playoffs against Minot’s Danielle Foster. Leidholm and Foster each shot a 77.

Dickinson has been searching for that No. 4, 5 and 6 players all year and the final three players stepped up. Ashley Schara hit a 96 and Jill Mueller posted a 101. Rachel Lantz rounded out the six with a 103.

The Midgets will prepare for the next two weeks before traveling to the state tournament.

Century Invitational

At Tom O’Leary Golf Course

Team scores: 1 Century 328, 2 Dickinson 348, 3 Williston 365, 4 Minot 380, 5 Mandan 385, Bismarck 388.

Individual top 10: 1, Alex Leidholm, Century, 77. 2, Danielle Foster, Minot, 77. 3, Riana Cooper, Dickinson, 78. 4, Sierra Bennion, Jamestown, 79. 5, Kayla Barke, Williston, 80. 6, Annie Nelson, Century, 83. T-7, Brianna Flynn, Century, 84. Lindsay Reede, Century, 84. Mercedes Mata, Mandan, 84. T-10, Alex Hopkins, Century 85. Kayula Hebling, Mandan, 85. Rachel Jahner, Dickinson 85.

Other Dickinson finishers: Kira Haag 87, Ashley Schara 96, Jill Mueller 101, Rachel Lantz 103.

Weber State

makes quick work

of the competition

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Dickinson State cross country teams each saw Weber State run home with first place wins Saturday at the Montana State Invitational.

On the men’s side, Weber State scored a 64, followed by Utah State in second (79) and Rocky Mountain in third (86). Dickinson brought up the final place with a 265.

The Blue Hawks were led by Roberto Quintero in 31st place in a time of 27 minutes, 12 seconds. Edwin Chelashaw followed in 37th (27:27).

From there Dickinson had a major drop off and didn’t see a runner come in until the 85th place.

On the women’s side, Weber State grabbed three of the top five places and skated to 28 points. Utah State came in second (83) and Utah Valley in third (90).

DSU’s Gladys Rotich placed 46th (18:55) and Vanessa Esquivel ran a time of 19:06 for 54th. Rounding out the Blue Hawks top three was Brittany Young in 68th in a time of 19:38.

Montana State Invitational

Men

Team scores: Weber State 64, Utah State 79, Rocky Mountain 86, MSU-Billings 100, Carroll 127, Montana State 139, Central Washington 188, Utah Valley 189, South Dakota School of Mines 203, Montana 251, Dickinson State 265.

Individual top 5: 1, Brian McKenna, Utah State, 24:27. 2, Derek Day, Unattached, 26:10. 3, Daniel Lombardi, MSU-Billings 25:43. 4, Carl Nystuen, Unattached 26:32. 5, Cesae Mireles, Rocky Mountain, 25:50.

DSU finishers: 31, Roberto Quintero 27:12. 37, Edwin Chelashaw 27:27. 85, Dustin Sandbak 29:58. 89, Chris Gill 30:08. Eddy Meneses 30:48. 99, Clayton Steinmetz 31:45.

Women

Team scores: Weber State 28, Utah State 83, Utah Valley 90, Montana 98, Montana State 113, Carroll 144, Rocky Mountain 206, MSU-Billings 215, Dickinson State 276, Central Washington 284, South Dakota School of Mines 317.

Individual top 5: 1, Amber Henry, Weber State, 16:48. 2, Sarah Callister, Weber State, 16:59. 3, Heather Haug, Unattached, 17:07. 4, Keli Dennehy, Montana, 17:10. 5, Laken Hintz, Weber State, 17:21.

DSU finishers: 46, Gladys Rotich 18:55. 54, Vanessa Esquivel 19:06. 68, Brittany Young 19:38. 96, Rose Byrne 21:54. 99, Mariela Sanchez 23:32.

Tags: cross country, sports