Ostenson breaks 29-year record

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The men and women of the Dogie track team took advantage of long-awaited spring temperatures at the Queen City Classic meet in Spearfish last Friday to make some improvements in their events. Head coach Chad Ostenson admitted that though there weren’t as many improvements as he would have liked to have seen, those that were made were significant.
The most notable of those belonged to Cade Ostenson, who repeated in qualifying for the State Meet in both the 110 Meter Hurdles and the Long Jump, and also set new personal bests in each event from just the week before. 
The senior’s performance in the long jump was outstanding, as he leaped seven and a half inches farther than his PR set last week, winning the event by over a foot. In the process, he also set a new school record in the long jump, which had been held by Ben Morris since 1990. The old record of 22-02.5 was eclipsed by Ostenson’s 22-07.75 jump on Friday. 
For Coach Ostenson, the thrill over his performance was two-fold, celebrating as his coach and as his father.
“Cade just jumped really well, with all three of his attempts surpassing the old record,” he smiled. “It’s been there for a while, so it was really fun to see Cade break it.”
In the 110 Meter Hurdles Ostenson ran the best time of his career in the preliminary race, finishing second in 15.50. In finals, he slipped to sixth place while adding .17 seconds to his time. The senior ran the 300 Meter Hurdles for the first time this season, where he finished seventh with a time of 43.11, just missing 3A state qualification by .3 of a second.
Though Ostenson was the only Dogie or Lady Dogie to place or qualify at the meet, Coach Ostenson noted other improvements on the day for his team.
“The distance kids all did well and if they keep working and dropping time, we should be doing okay and will get where we need to be,” he declared.  
Dylan Talley shaved double digit numbers off his time in the 1600 and 3200 Meter races, and though he has not yet reached his personal best times, he is making strides to get there. The senior crossed the finish line 15th in the mile with a time of 5:08.37, and 12th in the two mile in 11:03.22.
Freshman Tristan Troftgruben took 25 seconds off his time in the two mile for a new PR of 11:08.88, and was just four places behind Talley in 16th. 
Coach Ostenson also gave shout outs to sophomores Dylan Drost and Honesty Olson for good performances on the day.
“Honesty had a really good day, and set a new PR in the discus by three feet,” he stated. “Dylan set a PR in the 100 Meter run, and performed very well in the 4x4 relay. He’s been working hard and getting some good things done.”
The Dogies will hopefully have another shot at improving times this Saturday with a scheduled meet in Belle Fourche. If weather permits, Ostenson is hoping to put together a girls’ relay, though he admitted the forecast does not look promising.