RICHARDTON -- Hanging just outside the gymnasium at Richardton-Taylor High School sits a black board high on the wall that lists all of the Raiders' volleyball records. Those same records can be found on the back of every program as well.
Currently the names Jaci Kirschenheiter and Nicci Schorsch rule the records but their names are slowly disappearing.
Their replacement is Katie Zent.
The 5-foot-9 senior outside hitter has launched an assault on the Richardton-Taylor volleyball record books this season, breaking two records already while approaching four others with three games, a tournament in Hazen and the postseason still to play.
"It's nice to leave something behind at this school," Zent said. "We're here for six years and it's nice to know they might remember me for awhile while those are up."
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Zent broke the single match record for kills on Oct. 2 at Beulah with 37. The previous record was 33 by Schorsch in 1999 against New England.
On Tuesday, Zent became the school's all-time career leader in kills after notching 15 at home against Killdeer. Now sitting at 1,212 kills, Zent broke the old mark set by Schorsch of 1,209 from 1995-2000.
"That has been what I thought was pretty unattainable," said Raiders coach Brian Filibeck, who has been tracking Zent's season and career statistics all season. "Katie has come in and done that."
Zent is 106 kills away from owning the single season record for kills as well. Crystal Hauck currently owns the record of 542 which she set in 2003. Zent has 436.
The resurgence of Zent's jump serve has also put her in contention for the Raiders' aces records. Zent moved within 20 aces of Kirschenheiter's career mark of 255 by notching six against Killdeer on Tuesday. Schorsch holds the single season record of 97 aces during the 1999-2000 season.
Zent has 73 aces on the season and 235 for her career. As for the match record, she will have to surpass current teammate, junior outside hitter Kaylee Stein, who put up 13 over the weekend in a two-game match at the Des Lacs-Burlington Invitational.
Defensively, Zent is also on the verge of capturing Kirschenheiter's career digs record of 1,176. Zent is 44 short at 1,132. Zent led Tuesday's match with 16.
"She might clean house," Filibeck said.
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Zent plans to continue playing volleyball after high school. Filibeck said that Dickinson State is interested in Zent but a couple NCAA Division-II schools, and a D-I university, have also been persistent.
Zent said she has spoken with the University of Mary in Bismarck, Minnesota State University Mankato and the University of North Dakota, though the Sioux are only interested in her for track at this point.
"I'm not going anywhere just to run track. I don't like it enough," Zent said. "I'm not positive on anything yet. I've been talking to some coaches."
Academics are also important in her search as Zent wants to become a veterinarian. Mankato, Mary, DSU and UND all offer pre-veterinary medicine programs.
"I want to be a vet and you can get a pre-vet degree pretty much anywhere so I'm okay going some places," Zent said. "It'd be nice if they had the whole program there but I'll go with what ever I like."
New England looks to repeat in District 13
After winning back-to-back District 13 tournament titles in 2005 and 2006, the Tigers are on the verge of wrapping up back-to-back District 13 regular season titles this season.
New England can clinch the championship and the district's No. 1 seed in the playoffs with a win over Mott-Regent tonight.
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"It's really great for our program because we have brought winning back to New England volleyball," Tigers coach Jodi Jung said. "We kind of got away from that for awhile."
A victory would also mean a second consecutive undefeated season in the district. Overall New England is 23-8 on the season.
"Winning breeds winning so we are getting that winning tradition back in New England," Jung said.
For Jung, her team will need to be aggressive at the net tonight to secure the undefeated season and District 13 title.
"We have some big hitters and I want them to make sure their always hitting strong, always hitting hard," Jung said.
Midget runners prepare for West Region meet
After the Dickinson High boys cross country team finished third and the girls placed fourth at the state finals last season, coach Shawn Leiss challenged his team to top those performances in 2007.
While the girls are on the verge of completing their goal, the boys still have an upward hill to climb.
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"Right now I think the girls are closer to their goals," Leiss said. "We would like to take a bite out of Bismarck and Minot on Saturday."
The Midgets travel to Jamestown on Saturday for the Class A West Region cross country meet. The girls enter the race ranked No. 4 in the state in Class A behind regional rivals Bismarck and Minot, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Fargo South came in at No. 3 while Jamestown was No. 5.
"I consider our girls to be equals with Minot and Bismarck," Leiss said.
Dickinson High's Dakota Wolf is currently ranked No. 6 in the state individual rankings. Leiss said Wolf has come along very well this season.
"She has had a noticeable increase in confidence," he said. "In the past, Dakota may have been a tentative runner and questioning herself.
"She is really gaining a lot of confidence this year and it's showing in the way she runs."
The boys enter the West Region meet unranked as a team and no Midget runners were able to crack the individual Class A top 10. Bismarck stands at No. 1 in the state and has three runners ranked.
Williston came in at No. 2, Jamestown No. 4 and Minot at No. 5.
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"Right now in the boys' division, we've kind of been behind Jamestown, Bismarck, Minot and Williston," Leiss said. "We'd like to get a little bit closer to and in front of one of those teams."
The Dickinson High boys lost five of its top 10 runners from last year to graduation, so the Midgets will be looking a lot younger this year at Jamestown.
"We're looking for a breakthrough performance from some runners in the 3-6 spots," Leiss said.
Bowman County runners ranked heading regionals
The Bowman County will enter the Class B, West Region cross country meet Saturday in Tioga with the No. 2-ranked girls and No. 3-ranked boys teams in the state.
The Bulldog girls sit behind No. 1 Grafton, who has four girls ranked in the top 10 individually. The lone ranked Bulldog is Mattie McGee coming in at No. 7.
The Bulldog boys sit behind New Town and Parshall-Mandaree-White Shield. New Town has four runners ranked in the top 10. Nathan McGee is the lone ranked Bulldog at No. 10.
Jordan Cieslak of Beulah-Hazen is ranked ninth.
