Binstock takes runner-up at West Region

• Jackson Binstock

Photo by Chris Aarhus / Forum Communications Dickinson High sophomore Jackson Binstock runs during the West Region cross country meet on Saturday at Jamestown’s Hillcrest Country Club. Binstock finished runner-up to Bismarck High’s Jake Leingang.

Talk about it

JAMESTOWN — During the Dickinson High homecoming football game on Friday, sophomore Jackson Binstock said he was ready for the West Region cross country meet.

He wasn’t lying.

Binstock finished runner-up to Bismarck High’s Jake Leingang in the West Region meet on Saturday at Hillcrest Golf Course in Jamestown.

“He pulled away from third, fourth, fifth and kept that lead on them,” Dickinson head coach James Mousseau said. “He basically ran that whole race by himself and he ran just phenomenal.”

Bismarck High, the defending Class A boys state champions, won the boys team title with 22 points, while Williston took second (77) and Bismarck Century in third (78). Dickinson placed sixth with 209 points, but Mousseau was impressed with the effort portrayed by the boys.

“I think it just shows the hard work and believing in this system is paying off,” Mousseau said. “It’s just a small step toward state.”

Binstock finished with a time of 16 minutes, 21 seconds, which was nearly a minute off Leingang’s run of 15:24. Leingang and Binstock are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 individually, respectively, in the Class A coaches poll.

“Jackson actually took off with Jake,” Mousseau said. “I was a little nervous when he did that, but he just put together a complete race.”

The Midgets added Dickinson Trinity senior Dylan Gress’ 44th (18:13), recently crowned homecoming king Gabe Dschaak in 47th (18:24), Collin Bren in 54th (18:44) Jacob Kuntz in 62nd (18:50) and Kyle Wegner in 66th (18:57).

On the girls side, Dickinson senior Meleah Leiss had a minute before the race to decide whether to start running or not. Mousseau was glad she did.

Leiss, who has been nagged by a sore knee, placed 16th with a time of 16:06.

“She said, ‘Coach, if I don’t do it, it’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life,’” Mousseau said. “I said go for it. When she started out, she looked smooth and I think that lifted the spirits of the other runners. That’s a phenomenal performance.”

Teammate and fellow senior Shelby Stoltz placed 19th with a time of 16:17. The senior has cut nearly two minutes off her time from the first time the Midgets ran at Hillcrest during the “Orr”ingals Invitational on Aug. 24.

“For a girl that works hard every day, comes to practice every day and does everything a coach asks of her as a coach you hope the best for those athletes,” Mousseau said. “Today, it was great to see her run.”

Bismarck Century won the girls team title by one point (31), edging out Bismarck High. Dickinson came in third after executing a well-determined game plan — run as a pack — with 111 points.

The Midgets had their next four runners come within 15 places of each other. Emily Tyrrell came in 23rd (16:24) Kelli Pavlicek in 24th (16:25), Kelsey Gillen in 29th (16:48) and Taylor Ihmels in 38th (17:12).

“Kelli was passing people the whole way,” Mousseau said. “She started out as maybe our eighth runner when the gun went off. She kept picking people off, moving up, moving up and her teammates saw her. She encouraged them and carried the team toward the top.”

Dickinson now has two weeks before hosting the Class A and B state cross country meets on Oct. 27 at Heart River Golf Course. Mousseau plans to refine a couple areas, but also wants to keep that calm, relaxed feeling.

“The main goal is to sharpen up what we have,” Mousseau said. “We’ll probably kick in some more speed work. We really want to be stress free as well.”

Boys

At Jamestown Hillcrest Golf Course

Team scores: Bismarck High 22, Williston 77, Bismarck Century 78, Minot 141, Mandan 171, Dickinson 209, Jamestown 267.

Individual top 20: 1, Jake Leingang, Bismarck, 15:24. 2, Jackson Binstock, Dickinson, 16:21. 3, Preston Lerew, Bismarck, 16:37. 4, Brandon Berg, Bismarck, 16:42. 5, Cataldo DiDonna, BC, 16:47. 6, Matt Gotta, Bismarck, 16:50. 7, Ryan Fetch, BC, 16:52. 8, Lane Kashur, Bismarck, 16:54. 9, Brennan Goldade, Williston, 17:01. 10, Sam Clausnitzer, Bismarck, 17:06. 11, Jacob Oleksik, Williston, 17:07. 12, Andrew Beach, Minot, 17:08. 13, Chris Chamberlin, Williston, 17:13. 14, Logan Fischer, Bismarck, 17:14. 15, Dylan Werner, Bismarck, 17:16. 16, Devan Shumway, Williston, 17:16. 17, Lucas Bussman, Mandan, 17:16. 18, Bryce Andersen, Mandan, 17:24. 19, Dylan Weber, Minot, 17:25. 20, Dylan Sether, BC, 17:26..

Other Dickinson finishers: 44, Dylan Gress, 18:13. 47, Gabe Dschaak, 18:24. 54, Collin Bren, 18:44. 62, Jacob Kuntz, 18:50. 66, Kyle Wegner, 18:57. 72, Bronson Lewis, 19:11. 79, Jamison Gray, 19:22. 85, Cirilo Castillo, 19:27. 86, Zach Obrigewitch, 19:32. 92, Sean Nash, 19:44. 96, Sam Metz, 19:56. 122, Jake Kostelecky, 21:49. 126, Brad Svihl, 22:22. 137, Bradley Klein, 23:31. 141, Tyrel Senger, 24:59. 143, Kaleb Dschaak, 25:25.

Girls

Team scores: Bismarck Century 31, Bismarck High 32, Dickinson 111, Minot 114, Williston 157, Mandan 172, Jamestown 225.

Individual top 10: 1, Jordan Jacob, BC, 15:01. 2, Brittany Brownotter, Bismarck, 15:06. 3, Alexis Zeis, Bismarck, 15:07. 4, Samantha Huether, Minot, 15:12. 5, Taryn Neameyer, BC, 15:26. 6, Paige Melin, BC, 15:28. 7, Grace Gannon, Bismarck, 15:30. 8, Madison Burgard, Bismarck, 15:35. 9, Jaiden Schuette, BC, 15:36. 10, Laura Laber, BC, 15:58. 11, Brittney Humphrey, BC, 15:59. 12, Melissa Stewart, Bismarck, 16:03. 13, Kayla Wald, Bismarck, 16:03. 14, Hannah Juhl, Williston, 16:03. 15, Jacey Wilson, Mandan, 16:04. 16, Meleah Leiss, Dickinson, 16:06. 17, Stephanie Huether, Minot, 16:12. 18, Jen Benz, BC, 16:15. 19, Shelby Stoltz, Dickinson, 16:17. 20, Natalie Scherr, Bismarck, 16:21..

Other Dickinson finishers: 23, Emily Tyrrell, 16:24. 24, Kelli Pavlicek, 16:25. 29, Kelsey Gillen, 16:48. 38, Taylor Ihmels, 17:12. 42, Katie Pavlicek, 17:21. 58, Shannon Stockert, 17:56. 70, Caitlin Klitzke, 18:27. 84, Alyssa Hanson, 19:13.

Tags: high school cross country, dickinson midgets, jackson binstock, meleah leiss, shelby stoltz, west region meet, sports, preps, midgets