Saturday, May 3, was a day for the track and field athletes from Minot High and Minot North to make the trek south for a pair of events, the Howard Wood Dakota Relays and the Watford City Invite.

These athletes joined hundreds of others as they fine tuned their skills for the end of track season that is just a few short weeks away at the 2024 NDHSAA Combined Class A and B Boys and Girls Track & Field State Meet. The meet will be held May 23-25 at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck.

Howard Wood Dakota Relays

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Athletes from Minot High and Minot North made the trip south to compete at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays held at the Howard Wood Field House, and they were not alone as 157 other schools were represented as well.

Minot North junior John Williams III made the trip to the event and won the triple jump at the meet with a 45-6 leap on his final attempt. Williams placed second in the first event of the outdoor season at the Minot Invite on April 6 and has three first place finishes after that initial meet.

The distance jumped at the Howard Wood Dakota meet is tied with his best from the 2024 outdoor season so far. Williams is 11-inches off the state championship distance of 46-5 from May 27 at the NDHSAA State A Track and Field meet last year.

Minot High senior Kobe Irmen placed 10th in the discus with a 159-5 toss while fellow senior Jobe Rystedt placed 15th in the shot put with a throw of 50-7.5 for the Magi. Sophomore Blake Anderson placed 22nd in the discus and 33rd in the shot put while junior Lincoln Brooks was 28th in the discus and 33rd in the shot put.

Top performers of the meet for the girls was the 4000 meter medley relay at 13th with a time of 14:04.08 with sophomore Scout Ulrickson, senior Allie Johnson, junior Nicole Couture and eighth grader Lucy Harris for the Majettes.

Senior Makayla Whitfield placed 18th in the triple jump with a 34-1 mark while Haleigh Carr was 23rd at 33-4.25 and Haley Conklin at 26th with a 33-1.5 leap. Whitfield was also 22nd in the 100 and 24th in the 200 for the Majettes.

Watford City Invite

While some athletes made the trip to Sioux Falls, others made the trip to Watford City to compete with the other 15 schools represented.

Minot High boys had three athletes finish in second place at the invite. Senior Jacob Roth placed second in the pole vault, clearing 12-6 at the event.

Junior Dylan Jackson was second in the 800 with a time of 2:0124 while junior Kaden Kraft was second in the 300 meter hurdles for the Magi. Jackson was the starting leg of the 4×400 relay that finished third at the meet. He was joined by fellow juniors Jacob Jackson, Cameron Hummel and David Amsbury and as a team they posted a 3:38.30 time in the event. Jacob Jackson was also third in the 800 behind Dylan.

Senior Heston Faul was sixth in the javelin with a 134-foot mark while junior Mason Eichhorn was seventh with a 129-2 throw. Junior Carson Larson placed 10th with a 119-10 mark as well. Senior Derrick Arivett finished seventh in the shot put with a 43-foot toss and eighth in the discus with a 116-6 mark. Eichhorn was ninth in the shot put for the Magi.

Junior Derek Oswald finished ninth in the 3200 while junior Cameron Hummel was 10th in the 400 for the Magi. Sophomore Kody Gartner was 19th in the 100 rounding out the top ten placement athletes for Minot High boys.

For the Minot High girls, sophomore Rylee Lamberth placed third in the shot put at 33-9 while senior Eve Bland was third in the discus at 105-feet for the Majettes. Lamberth also placed ninth in the discus. Junior Kiera Aguilar placed fourth in the shot put with a 33-2 mark and junior Brenna Swartwout was eighth with a 31-2 mark.

Senior Maicee Burke placed fourth in the 100 with a time of 13.36 and eighth grader Kaylee Jackson was fifth in the 800 with a time of 2:33.90 at the meet. Senior Maria Goodvin was ninth in the 800 for the Majettes.

Minot High freshmen Gracyn Bergan was fifth and Keira Davis eighth in the high jump at 4-7 each with the difference being attempts needed to clear the height. Senior Jamila DIas was fifth in the triple jump at 31-1.5, freshmen Chinagozi Ugobi and Hope Gravely were ninth and 10th respectively.