Cross country teams get taste of state meet at Becki Wells Invitational

• Jackson Binstock

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Dickinson sophomore Jackson Binstock runs on Saturday at Heart River Golf Course during the Becki Wells Invitational cross country meet. Binstock finished fourth.
• Emily Tyrell

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Dickinson sophomore Emily Tyrell runs on Saturday at Heart River Golf Course during the Becki Wells Invitational cross country meet. Tyrell led the Dickinson girls, placing 26th.

Talk about it

Class A boys and girls cross country teams got the first taste of the course where their state meet will take place Saturday morning.

The Dickinson cross country, typically run on the back nine at Heart River Golf Course, made the switch to the front nine for the Becki Wells Invitational. The state meet will also be held on the front nine course.

Bismarck High didn’t have any trouble with the change of scenery, claiming the boys and girls team wins.

“It’s always an advantage to see your competitors,” Dickinson head coach James Mousseau said. “We’ll go back and look at the results. It’s always good to run up against Bismarck. You always want to run against the best and they are the best, so running against them only makes us better.”

The Bismarck boys, who entered the season ranked No. 17 nationally by ESPN, took the top three places despite not having Jake Leingang.

Leingang, a senior considered one of the nation’s top high school distance runners, sat out after experiencing some tightness during warm-ups.

“I thought our guys ran well,” Bismarck boys co-head coach Dave Zittleman said. “We ran without our No. 1 and No. 4 and a lot of the other kids stepped up. Training is going well and that’s the most important thing this time of the year.”

Bismarck finished with 32 points as Preston Lerew won the invitational with a time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds. Matt Gotta placed second (16:11) and Lane Kashur was third (16:17).

Dickinson’s Jackson Binstock took fourth for the second time this season, just 12 seconds out of first at 16:20. The sophomore placed fourth at the “Orr”ingals Meet in Jamestown on Aug. 24. He was able to lower his time facing Bismarck’s runners for the first time this season.

“I thought it was a pretty good race,” Binstock said. “I cut off a minute from last time. I just want to stick with them (Bismarck) for the rest of the year. I wasn’t too far behind.”

After Binstock, Dickinson’s next runner was senior Gabe Dschaak in 44th (18:20). Collin Bren took 55th (18:50) and Dylan Gress followed up in 57th (19:03).

“That was phenomenal,” Mousseau said of Binstock’s performance. “He’s still working. He’s still running miles and all that.

“I’m a little disappointed where our pack was behind him, but they’re still there. They’re just going to keep working.”

On the girls side, Bismarck tallied 25 points after taking the top three spots. Brittany Brown Otter won the invite with a time of 14:41. She was followed by Morgan Pierce (14:45) and Alexis Zeis (14:49) in second and third, respectively.

West Fargo was one of the few teams from the East making the trek to Dickinson. The Packers finished third as a team on the girls side and fourth on the boys side. West Fargo head coach Joe Bailey said there are many reasons why it was important to take the 284-mile trip.

“I think it’s important that we not only run the course, but also have that overnight trip, so it’s not a surprise when state rolls around,” he said.

Dickinson placed fourth with 192 points. Senior Meleah Leiss said the team ran the race plan to a tee.

“We think we did really well running as a team,” said Leiss, who finished 37th individually. “We wanted to run together, but we just need to move our pack up.”

The Midgets’ top five runners placed within 20 places from their first runner to their fifth runner. Sophomore Emily Tyrell led the team in 26th (16:28).

“On the girls side, that was a surprise,” Mousseau said. “They really executed their race plan perfectly. It’s a tribute to them to being educated runners.”

The coaches and runner alike enjoyed the change of course from the back nine to the more wide-open front nine. The Midgets are eager to host the state meet on Oct. 27.

“I’ve got to thank the golf course for allowing us to be out here,” Mousseau said. “Getting all the different coaches opinions, we treasure and value those on their input. This will be the state course. We’ve got some adjustments to make, but other than I think everybody is happy with the course and the layout.”

“This is a good course,” Leiss added. “It’s a fast course. We’re excited to use it for state.”

Becki Wells Invitational

At Heart River Golf Course, Dickinson

Boys

Team scores: Bismarck High 32, Williston 62, Bismarck Century 110, West Fargo 114, Glendive, Mont., 153, Minot 155, Mandan 194, Dickinson 224, New Town 252, Jamestown 324, Lisbon 334, Shiloh Christian 348, Bowman County 416, Sargent Central 420, Belcourt 488.

Individual top 20: 1, Preston Lerew, Bismarck, 16:06. 2, Matt Gotta, Bismarck, 16:11. 3, Lane Kashur, Bismarck, 16:17.4, Jackson Binstock, Dickinson,16:20. 5, Layne Lantis, Glendive, 16:22. 6, Cataldo Didonna, Century, 16:33. 7, Darin Beltezore, West Fargo, 16:40. 8, Chris Chamberlin, Williston, 16:48. 9, Brennan Goldade, Williston, 16:55. 10, Ryan Fetch, Century, 16:59. 11, Matt Keltgen, Glendive, 17:00. 12, Dylan Werner, Bismarck, 17:00. 13, Quinn Wahlstrom, Williston, 17:01. 14, Dan Bullinger, Bismarck, 17:01. 15, Devan Shumway, Williston, 17:02. 16, Elliot Stone, Shiloh, 17:04. 17, Jacob Oleksik, Williston, 17:04. 18, Andrew Beach, Minot, 17:05. 19, Austin Albrecht, West Fargo, 17:05. 20, Logan Fischer, Bismarck, 17:06.

Other area finishers: 44, Gabe Dschaak, Dickinson, 18:20. 55, Collin Bren, Dickinson, 18:50. 57, Dylan Gress, Dickinson, 19:03. 64, Jacob Kuntz, Dickinson, 19:17. 67, Kyle Wegner, Dickinson, 19:24. 68, Zach Obrigewitch, Dickinson, 19:25. 73, Alex Bartholmay, Bowman County, 19:41. 74, Jamison Gray, Dickinson, 19:52. 77, Sean Nash, Dickinson, 20:02. 83, Mattie McGee, Bowman County, 20:24. 84, Sara Freitag, Bowman County, 20:28. 85, Cirilo Castilo, Dickinson, 20:44. 86, Tim Fischer, Bowman County, 20:53. 87, Colbie Wanner, Dickinson, 20:57. 90, Brayden Miller, Bowman County, 22:03. 95, Bradley Klein, Dickinson, 23:06.

Girls

Team scores: Bismarck High 25, Bismarck Century 44, West Fargo 103, Dickinson 192, Minot 192, Shiloh Christian 219, Glendive, Mont., 237, Williston 243, Mandan 258, Southern McLean 299, Jamestown 318, Killdeer 380, New Town 387, Stanley 401, Lisbon 410, Surrey 411, Watford City 420, Wing 441, Hebron 442, Tioga-Trinity Christian 481, Parshall 484, Garrison 503.

Individual top 20: 1, Brittany Brownotter, Bismarck, 14:41. 2, Morgan Pierce, Bismarck, 14:45. 3, Alexis Zeis, Bismarck, 14:49. 4, Jordan Jacob, Century, 14:52. 5, Paige Melin, Century, 15:19. 6, Jen Dufner, West Fargo, 15:21. 7, Abi Waloch, Southern McLean, 15:25. 8, Taryn Neameyer, Century, 15:29. 9, Grace Gannon, Bismarck, 15:30. 10, Madison Burgard, Bismarck, 15:43. 11, Jaiden Schuette, Century, 15:49. 12, Austyn Copp, Glendive, 15:49. 13, Olivia Larsen, Williston, 15:51. 14, Asha Smith, Watford City, 15:54. 15, Keisha Schock, Southern McLean, 15:57. 16, Brittney Humphrey, Century, 16:00. 17, Melissa Stewart, Bismarck, 16:07. 18, Suzanne Dullum, West Fargo, 16:11. 19, Sasha Hovind, Lisbon, 16:14. 20, Caitlin Lantix, Glendive, 16:20.

Other area finishers: 26, Emily Tyrell, Dickinson, 16:28. 37, Meleah Leiss, Dickinson, 16:48. 41, Shelby Stoltz, Dickinson, 16:52. 42, Kelli Pavlicek, Dickinson, 16:54. 44, Lexie Clarke, Killdeer, 17:01. 46, Shannon Stockert, Dickinson, 17:07. 50, Katie Pavlicek, Dickinson, 17:10. 62, Taylor Ihmels, Dickinson, 17:32. 70, Brooke Fettig, Killdeer, 17:53. 77, Kelsey Gillen, Dickinson, 18:05. 80, Kennedy Zuroff, Hebron, 18:23. 81, Courtney Raaf, Hebron, 18:31. 83, Amber Kukla, Killdeer, 18:40. 85, Jurnee Murray, Killdeer, 18:55. 86, Ivy Burbidge, Hebron, 19:19. 98, Shannea Schaper, Killdeer, 20:53.

Tags: becki wells invitational, cross country, dickinson midgets, running, preps