Local athletes will begin competition in this year’s NDHSAA State Track & Field Meet Thursday morning.

Both Class A and B will be participating in this weekend’s events. The track officially opens for warm-up at 12 p.m. on Thursday, but the first events don’t begin until 3:30 p.m. with the Class A boys’ discus and girls’ high jump, and the Class B boys’s pole vault, girls’ shot put and girls’ long jump.

Minot High junior Blake Anderson is set to compete in the Class A boys’ discus event on Thursday. He is currently ranked first in North Dakota for the event with a throw of 180 feet 9 inches. He made that personal best throw at the 2025 NDHSAA West Region Meet last weekend.

“[It] is definitely a confidence booster, but in reality it doesn’t matter a whole lot,” said Anderson. “Everyone has their good days and bad days, and I have to treat this meet the same as the others. I am hoping to come home with some hardware and win first just like everyone else.”

Anderson is also set to compete in the shot put event, which is to be held at 2 p.m. this Friday.

Thursday evening will also feature the prelims for the 4×200 relay and the finals for the 3200m run. Awards for the Thursday evening events will be handed out at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

Minot High senior Grayson Schaeffer is another athlete to look out for. He is currently ranked first in North Dakota for the Class A long jump, with a jump of 23 feet 4.5 inches. The long jump event will be held during Friday’s events at 11:30 a.m.

Schaeffer took home fourth place during last year’s NDHSAA long jump finals and is looking to take that first place spot this year.

Schaeffer is also ranked second in the state for Class A boys’ triple jump with a distance of 44 feet 6 inches. He took first for triple jump in last year’s state meet with a jump of 47 feet 1 inch.

Friday’s events also include the Class A girls’ pole vault, where Minot North junior McKinnley Kragh is currently tied for third in North Dakota with a vault of 10 feet 9 inches.

Kragh broke her personal pole vault record and earned the vault height at last weekend’s West Regional meet.

“It was such a relief to finally reach a goal that I set at the beginning of the season,” said Kragh. “More than anything, I’m eager to get out there. I’ve been vaulting with these girls all season and I’m really looking forward to being able to compete with the rest of the state.”

Another athlete to look out for is Minot High senior Haighley Carr. Carr is set to compete in the Class A girls’ triple jump event.

Carr took first place in the event at last year’s triple jump event with a distance of 37 feet 3.75 inches. She is currently ranked second in the state with a distance of 37 feet 1.25 inches.

The events on Thursday will run from 12 p.m. past 5:30 p.m. Friday’s events will start with the National Anthem at 9 a.m. and run through 5 p.m. with the Class B 4x800m relay.

Saturday will begin at 9:15 a.m. and end through 3:30 p.m. with the 4×400 relay finals. Saturday will also include a special recognition/hall of fame presentation at 12:30 p.m.

The running order for the track events will go Class A girls, Class B girls, Class A boys, Class B boys. The event is being held at the Bismarck Community Bowl in Bismarck, ND.