Run to the finish: Southwest Region packed full of talented returners this season
Michael Palcewski’s junior year has been solid after becoming an all-state runner in cross country and helping his basketball team to the Region 7 tournament.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Seth Ewoniuk and Lewis Keller
Michael Palcewski’s junior year has been solid after becoming an all-state runner in cross country and helping his basketball team to the Region 7 tournament.
With that said, his best might be to come.
The runner leads Bowman County into the track and field season and his season has already started with a bang.
Palcewski won the 100-meter dash at the Hazen Special Invite last Friday in 11.64 seconds. He also won the 200 (23.69 seconds) and 400 (52.5).
“We are going to lean on him real hard,” Bowman County head coach Jon Jahner said. “He’s going to score a lot of points for us.”
Palczewski edged Killdeer’s Lewis Keller by one-one-hundredth of a second in the 100.
While the junior doesn’t normally run the 100, Jahner wanted him to get in an extra run before his best events.
“He doesn’t normally run the short distance, or at least he hasn’t in the past,” Jahner said. “I told him he was going to run in the 100 to get a race in before this 400. He surprised a lot of people.”
Keller leads his own band of quality athletes into this track and field season. Jahner said the Cowboys are one team that looks to be in great shape already.
“Killdeer looked really tough,” Jahner said. “They looked good. The Keller kid is a great sprinter and their throwers are tough as nails.”
Senior Nick Klatt led the Cowboy throwers at the Hazen meet, winning the shot put with a throw of 48 feet, qualifying for the Class B state meet. Teammate Kyle Boster won the discus at 137-6. Boster also came in second in the shot put 47-4¾.
Mott-Regent senior Tanner Vesledahl, who didn’t play during the basketball season because of a shoulder injury, won the 110 and 300 hurdles. The senior is a returning state qualifier in both events.
“Probably the hurdles,” Benson said. “We’ve got the top two hurdlers in the region as of right now.”
The second hurdler Benson is talking about is junior Logan Haberstroh, who took second behind Vesledahl in each event.
Though the Wildfire placed high in both hurdles, the two events made up 36 of the team’s 55 points at Hazen.
“Numbers are low for the boys,” Benson said.
Bowman County sophomore hurdler Tanner Fischer kept up with Vesledahl and Haberstroh, placing third in both events.
The expectations for the Bulldogs are simple: qualify as many people for the state meet as they can before the Southwest Region meet.
“That’s always a goal throughout the regular season,” Jahner said. “The entire regular season is about who we can get qualified. Then we try to do a lot more strategy wise for the region meet.”
Another athlete already qualified for the state meet is Richardton-Taylor’s Jared Zent in the triple jump.
Elsewhere, Heart River, a team known for its speed on the football field, looks to transfer that onto the track. Last season, the Cougars had seniors Jarek Haverluk, Alec Lindsey, Dylan Northrop and Jordan Strecker and junior Seth Ewoniuk qualify for state as part of four relay teams.
Tags: high school track and field, sports
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