6/1/2005 – News
Volume 122, Number 17
Anderson does a lot for Benson County
BY CINDY PETERSON
Minot Daily News
Benson County distance runner Krista Anderson remembers her first Class B state track and field meet like it was yesterday.
To the senior at Leeds High School, the time has passed by too quickly.When Anderson first entered the North Dakota high school track and field circuit she was a 4-foot-9, 60-pound runner who showed the potential for a promising future. Anderson considered her first state track meet an experience she’d rather forget. She placed fifth in the 3,200-meter run and seventh in the 1,600.
“I was under the weather, but that’s no excuse,” said Anderson, who graduated Sunday as her class salutatorian with a 3.91 gpa. “It was the biggest meet I went to. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t do too well.”
To Anderson’s opponents, that seems like a long time ago. Class A and Class B distance runners have spent the past five years looking at Anderson’s backside on the track and in cross-country. Anderson hasn’t been defeated in the state of North Dakota in the 3,200 since her seventh-grade year. She has gone on to be an 11-time place winner at the state meet.
Anderson closed her career Friday-Saturday at the Class B state meet in Grand Forks, on the campus of the University of North Dakota. Once again, Anderson came in as the favorite in the 3,200 (10:38.20).
Anderson also qualified in the 1,600 (5:01.60, No. 2 seed) and 800 (2:19.20, No. 3 seed). She helped the 3,200 relay team qualify (9:39.50), which also held the No. 1 seed. She set an overall state meet record in the 3,200 with a time of 10:36.95 at last season’s state meet, besting Carly Emil of Mandan’s former mark.
Anderson also finished as the runner-up in the 2004 Nike Indoor national meet in the 3,200 run this winter, earning all-american status. She was edged at the finish line by the national champion. Anderson has also won two Class B state cross-country titles in her career.
Anderson will finish her career as being one of the most talented runners in Class A and B. Through all of her accolades, Anderson easily remains humble and doesn’t let her head inflate. She credited her parents for a wholesome upbringing.
“God gave me the talent to run,” Anderson said. “I run to glorify Him. I grew up in a religious home. My parents have played a huge role. I respect them so much.
“When I go to national meets, that keeps me humble. There are other runners out there."
Anderson will compete against the best runners in the nation next school year. She narrowed her college choices down to the University of Iowa and the University of Arkansas. While picking a school hasn’t been the easiest decision, Anderson’s choice of a major was a snap. She plans to study elementary education.
“I love kids,” Anderson said. “I knew I wanted to be a teacher since I was (in grade school).”
Competing in front of a huge crowd at a state meet is now routine for Anderson, who has grown to 5-4 and 90 pounds. Ever since her eighth-grade season, track and field fans at the state meet have rewarded Anderson with a standing ovation in the final 100 meters of her 3,200 run. Track fans in the entire state have embraced Anderson.
“It probably started with the whole size thing,” Benson County coach Jeff Manley said. “She has been appreciated by track fans. They know how challenging it is. In her eighth-grade year Krista and Staci Honeyman (of
Bowman) had such a dual. People saw that and they want to see it every year.”
While most female distance runners experience burn out or fade away during their later years of high school, Anderson has shown improvement each season.
“She has been consistent year to year,” Manley said. “She has always improved and that’s almost unmatched. She sets her goals high and she’s
dedicated. That’s why she’s so good.”
Anderson has managed to make it through her career without a major injury.
“I try not to over-train,” Anderson said. “I take a couple of weeks off after track and I get back into it gradually. I don’t run on pavement at all. I run on all soft surfaces.”
While Anderson’s first state meet was something she’d rather forget, her illustrious career has set the bar for future distance runners.
Benson County is a co-op for track only with athletes from Leeds, Minnewaukan and Maddock.
Long distance runners have gotten a good look at Benson County runner Krista Anderson’s backside. Anderson hasn’t lost to a North Dakota opponent in the 3,200 meter run since she was a seventh grader. (Photo by Donna Grann)
Team wins first-ever state title
Benson County closed its 2005 season as state champion of ND High School Girls Class B Track and Field at UND’s Memorial Stadium in Grand Forks over the weekend. The team ended Carrington’s string of six straight state titles. It was the first state title for Benson County. Standing, left to right, are Coach Larry Moser, Coach Jeff Manley, Lindsay Anderson, Bobbi Grann, Jalissa Hovland, Brianna Yri, Jessie Schwanke, Coach Mike Callahan and Coach Bobby Hoffner. Kneeling are Sharisa Yri, Erin Leier, Krista Anderson, Katrece Thompson and Jordan Callahan. Benson County is a three-school co-op (Leeds, Maddock and Minnewaukan). Complete story and photos next week. (Photo by Donna Grann)
Earns scholarship
Leeds School Superintendent Joel Braaten presents Krista Anderson with the $300 Michael J. Lalum Scholarship for the 2005-2006 school year.
Midco gives funds
Raymond Buckmeier of Brinsmade, left, representing Midcontinent Communications, presents a check to Mark Motis of Minnewaukan, representing the Benson County Amateur Radio Club. The money will be used to purchase equipment for use in emergency situations.
Fillmore cemetery receives facelift
BY LYNSEY HAGER
The Pierce County Tribune Rugby, ND
When St. Ann’s Church in Fillmore closed, the parishioners were left with a cemetery without a church.
Thinking that perhaps the cemetery would one day be disbanded and the graves relocated, many who would have been buried in St. Ann?s Cemetery chose to be buried elsewhere. However, with recent efforts to spruce up the cemetery, that could change in coming years.
Lorraine Thompson, Christ Jaeger and his daughter, Carolyn Odden, have led the effort to revive the look of the cemetery. Thanks to the generous donations of former parishioners and some help from the Diocese of Fargo, the three have raised money to improve the appearance of the cemetery. In recent years, brick pillars and an ornate metal sign marking the entrance to the cemetery have been added and trees were planted along the edges about a year ago.
The most recent addition to the cemetery was a large iron cross inspired by the German-Russian metal crosses seen in early North Dakota cemeteries.
Jaeger said that this new cross replaced an old copper cross that had lost its shine and had begun to deteriorate in the approximately 50 years it had been in the cemetery. He noted that it had likely been in Rugby’s Catholic cemetery for nearly as many years before it was given to Father Miller, who moved the cross to Fillmore’s newly established cemetery in approximately 1952. The church had been built just a few years earlier, and Jaeger recalled pushing wheelbarrows and helping build the church as a teenager.
The old cross has been donated to the Prairie Village and Museum and will be placed in the chapel on the museum grounds.
The new cross was created this spring at Rugby Welding and Machine by Ron Fritel and Vince Mattern, using a book from the local library as a guide.
It was painted at Precision Auto Body by Todd Munyer. The cross took about a week to build, and it stands seven feet tall and weighs about 1,000 pounds. Rugby Welding and Machine moved the cross to Fillmore in mid-April, and Jaeger said a tractor loader was used to lift it into the place which held the old cross. The total cost of the sign and cross was approximately $2,300.
Jaeger said it was their aim to continue the family tradition through the cemetery, adding that his first wife is buried there and his family also wants to be buried there someday, and that others have also expressed interest in being buried there as well. Though spaces aren’t for sale, they can be reserved simply by getting one’s name listed in the cemetery book.
Currently, there are 25 gravestones in the cemetery and many open spaces available.
Christ Jaeger of Rugby, formerly of Fillmore, stands in front of the new steel cross which decorates the cemetery.
The new sign at the entrance to St. Ann’s Cemetery near Fillmore. (Photos courtesy of The Pierce County Tribune, Rugby).
Earns scholarship
Bryan Randle, left, a 2005 graduate of Maddock High School, was recently awarded a $250 local scholarship from the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Pictured with Randle is Duwayne Miller of the Lake Region Longbeards, the area’s local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. Bryan will be majoring in wildlife management at MSU-Bottineau in the fall.