Minot North junior Ethan Howey competes in the shot put event during the Minot Invite earlier this season at Magic City Campus. Howey has finished in the top three in the shot put in all eight meets this season. Mike Kraft/MDN

Before donning the green and white football uniform at the University of North Dakota when he moves on campus for early enrollment for the start of spring ball next season, Minot North’s Ethan Howey still has some unfinished business in his blue and silver track & field uniform.

The 6-foot-4, 245-pound future edge rusher for the Fighting Hawks has used what he’s learned on the football field over the years and applied that to his training to become one of the top athletes in the state in the shot put. Howey also competes in the discus, where he finished in the top eight in WDA last year.

Coaching him up on the sideline are a couple familiar voices in co-head coach Logan Krueger and assistant throwing coach Jacob Holmen. Krueger is an assistant coach for the Minot North football team, with Holmen serving as the head coach. Krueger believes that football and track & field are the perfect complement to one another.

“In all honesty, no two sports help each other more than track getting ready for football and football getting you able to learn how to compete,” Krueger said. “Those two sports are the best two combinations out there.”

While trying to win a 1-on-1 battle with someone his size while pursuing the quarterback is a bit different than tossing a 12-pound shot put, one thing about Howey is he’s going to give it his maximum effort on every snap and every toss. Howey was a first-team all-state selection at offensive lineman this past fall and is Minot North’s school record holder in the shot put with a toss of 55 feet, 2.5 inches. He set the mark in his last event at the Glenburn Invite on May 9, besting his previous school record of 54 feet, 7 inches, which he set the day prior.

“He’s one of those kids that you realize early on that he’s going to do some special things,” Krueger said. “He puts in extra time in the offseason. I coach him in football as well. He’s always a weight-room animal. He’s always chasing that next big throw. He’s never satisfied. His growth as a leader, especially now with this being his junior season has been awesome as far as keeping young guys accountable, being a big brother to some of the kids and he’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of kid to get to work with.”

Howey isn’t the first person in his family to compete in track & field, but he is the first as a thrower. Both his father and brother were long-distance runners. Howey opted for a different path, which drew him to the shot put and the discus. Howey said the skills he possesses as a football player helps him with his throwing events.

“You ask a lot of football coaches and they are going to look for people who can throw the shot put and discus far because it helps with explosiveness,” Howey said. “If you can throw the shot put far, you’re most likely a pretty explosive athlete.”

Howey has had a strong season in the shot put, never finishing outside of the top three in all eight meets he’s attended. He’s won three meets, finished second in three others and placed third twice. Howey is coming off back-to-back top finishes at the Minot Invite and the Glenburn Invite.

Howey entered this season as a favorite to win the state title in the shot put after his performance on the big stage last year at the state meet. As a sophomore, Howey came out of the second flight of competitors to finish fifth with a toss of 52 feet, 9 inches – a personal record at the time. Howey became just the second member of the Minot North boys track & field program to place at the state meet, joining John Williams III, who was runner-up in the triple jump (46-5) and fifth in the long jump (21-11.25) in 2024. Howey was coming off a fifth-place finish at WDA the week prior. Among the four competitors that finished in front of him at the state meet, all graduated last year, leaving him as the top returner.

“If you can be big, strong and have that fast twitch, that’s important,” Krueger said. “But the biggest thing is that regardless of the ability in any of those, it has to be your desire to want to be good at something. I’ve seen time and time again where you have some of the strongest kids in the city and maybe you have someone who really worries about his technique and tries hard in practice but might not be as developed in the weight room and he can get it out there farther. It’s a combination of the stars aligning and it being strength, speed, power and desire to be great at something.”

Last year’s state meet capped off a breakout year for Howey, who placed in the top five in all 10 of his meets in the shot put. He placed second in two meets, third in four meets, fourth in one meet and fifth in three others.

Howey said being a successful thrower requires physical strength, but mental fortitude as well.

“Having a gold fish memory,” Howey said. “You’re not going to throw great every throw. You have to forget about the bad ones and keep going on.”

He hasn’t experienced too many bad throws throughout his career, especially since he’s been going toe-to-toe with his biggest competition at every meet. Howey’s greatest challenge to his state-title aspirations doesn’t reside in the East Region, but rather just down the road with Minot High’s Blake Anderson.

Anderson has had the upper hand on Howey throughout most of the season, winning four of their five meetings this season. They have finished 1-2 in four of the five meetings. However, Howey got the better of Anderson in their most recent matchup at the Minot Invite on May 8 with his toss of 54 feet, 7 inches besting Anderson’s distance of 53 feet, 9 inches.

“It’s always fun because we always go to the same meets, so you know there’s always going to be great competition,” Howey said. “It could go either him or me every meet. It’s always something to look forward to. If he beats you one meet, I’m really locked in because I don’t want to lose the next one. It’s not a good feeling when you lose, so that competition is always good.”

Anderson, who will be a two-sport athlete at Minot State with football and track & field beginning in the fall, has five meet victories in the shot put and three in the discus this season. He is the defending West Region champion and state runner-up in the discus. Anderson was seventh at WDA and ninth at state in the shot put. His personal record in the shot put is at 57 feet, 2 inches.

“I think it’s awesome, especially now that we kind of have two of the top throwers in the state right here in Minot,” Krueger said. “Now it’s the beginning of that rivalry between Minot North and Minot High where you know the kid because it’s not like football or basketball where you’re watching film and studying him, but every meet it’s ‘He got me last meet, I’m going to get him next meet.’ It’s been really healthy. When I see them compete, Blake Anderson is one heck of a thrower. They love to compete and the good throwers love to just compete and it’s contagious at a meet when you get ultra competitive athletes like that that keep pushing each other back and forth.”

Howey and Anderson will meet up two more times in their career, beginning on Saturday, May 16, at the WDA Meet at the Biesiot Activities Center in Dickinson at noon Central Time. While Krueger expects Howey to perform his best on the brightest of stages, what’s most important for him is to see his star athlete enjoy himself.

“I want him to have fun,” Krueger said. “Rule No. 1 is to always have fun and then beyond that, leave your mark. He set the standard high by setting our school record in the shot put and he might go retake his school record in the discus from Dane Voeller. I just hope he is really proud of helping to build this program at Minot North track and field.”

From there, the focus shifts to the three-day state meet at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck, beginning on Thursday, May 21. The Class A boys shot put is scheduled that day at 5:30 p.m. The Class A boys discus will take place on Friday, May 22, at 11:30 a.m.

Howey is looking to finish off his track & field career as a champion and further cement himself in the program’s record book.

“I’ve always had the goal to win state and I have a great chance to win it in shot put this year,” Howey said. “That’s what I’m really focused on right now. “I’d be the first individual state champion at Minot North for track and field.”