New Town boys pull off incredible feat; win state track championship
New Town boys pull off incredible feat; win state track championship
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
Some expected a miracle, most didn’t, but the high school athletes who performed in the state Class B track meet in Bismarck and their coach knew they could do it.
New Town’s Justin and Jeremy Grinnell, Alex Baker and Justin Many Ribs racked up 63 points to outdistance a much larger Rugby team by 2 points. Linton came in third while Parshall finished the two-day event with 17.
Head coach Brian Anderson said it was realized about half way through the season the boys could do well in the events and would have a solid shot at making the top five at least. Working their way into top times during the regular season was a great clue, and if they stayed healthy, they had a legitimate shot at it.
But to have them finish the season with a state championship is a dream come true for all four of the athletes.
“To have Jeremy, Justin and Justin finish one, two, three in the 1600 (meter run) was a great way to start the meet off,” Anderson said. “Later on the first day, Alex Baker joined those three to win the 3200-meter relay by a large margin.”
Anderson said Saturday started off just as well as the dynamic duo once again went one, two, three in the 3200-meter run. Justin Grinnell and Justin Many Ribs finished sixth and seventh late Saturday to cap the team’s 63 point total.
“We then had to sit and wait for about four other events to be completed to see if that point total would hold up,” Anderson said. “Rugby finished third in the last event of the day, then we knew we had it.”
