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Dickinson High track looks for its best at West Region Meet

At every track meet, the announcer gets on the loud speaker for the final call for an event. It's the final call for state qualifiers for the Dickinson High track and field teams. The Midgets' final chance to qualify is at the West Region Meet on...

Austin Mack and Mike Porter
Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson High junior Austin Mack, front, and senior Mike Porter, left, run ahead of Dickinson Trinity junior Alex Binstock on April 12 during the Jack Carlson Booster meet at the Badlands Activities Center.

At every track meet, the announcer gets on the loud speaker for the final call for an event.

It's the final call for state qualifiers for the Dickinson High track and field teams.

The Midgets' final chance to qualify is at the West Region Meet on Saturday at the Bismarck Community Bowl.

"The number one goal is seeing if we can get even more state qualifiers," Dickinson co-head coach Jay Schobinger said. "It's the last opportunity."

The top six individuals in each event at the West Region meet qualify for the state meet May 25-26, which is also at the Community Bowl.

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On the boys side, Dickinson currently has 19 individuals qualified for the state meet and all four relays are qualified, including the state's fastest in the 3,200-meter team. The Midgets had a strong last week on the track as Michael Porter, Austin Mack, Joseph Sickler, Dallas Zastoupil, Vlad Kutka and Jackson Binstock all ran state-qualifying times.

"We've had some that have really come along in the last two weeks," Schobinger said. "We added a lot of qualifiers in the last two weeks, especially in the middle and distance races. That's been really nice."

Mason Frank, who is qualified in the open 100 and assisted the 400 and 800 relays, said being at the West Region meet is going to get everyone prepared for the state track meet.

"The season is coming down to the end and you just have to put all your best performances together right now," Frank said.

The boys' strong suit this season are the track events. In field events, only Taren Staudinger (long jump) and Collin Theilen (pole vault) are the only two at this point qualified.

Schobinger said if the boys finish third and the girls place fifth at the West Region meet, it will be a good weekend.

"We are looking at third and fifth, respectively," he said. "If we come out of that, I think we'll be feeling pretty good about things."

On the girls' side, the Midgets have had five individuals qualified for state, along with the 400, 800 and 1,600 relays.

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"We don't have an overabundance of individual qualifiers," Schobinger said. "We have a unique mixture of youth and older kids. We have three seventh-graders up here and we've never had that before. It's kind of a nice mixture and it's fun to watch them gel."

Dickinson senior Cienna Levorsen has a qualifying height of 9 feet, 6 inches in pole vault. She said the West Region Meet should serve well for other vaulters on the team who are near qualifying height of 9 feet.

"I think we'll get a few more in," Levorsen said. "I know for the vaulters, there are two girls that are pretty close."

The West Region Meet is a stepping stone to the level of competition the Midgets will face at the state meet.

"This is probably the only one where everybody has people close to where they probably are going to compete at the state track meet," Schobinger said. "Throughout the season, teams just pick and choose sometimes where they want to put people. Here is where you get everybody going."

However, Frank thinks the level of competition is going to pump everyone up.

"WDA will get you jacked all by itself, you just have to take that momentum and run with it," he said.

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