GWINNER (AP) - Three North Sargent High School seniors no longer have to worry about choosing between the state track meet and their high school graduation ceremony.

Logan Peterson, Ryan Grieger and Nichole Sims decided to compete in the state track and field meet in Bismarck on Friday. That would keep them in Bismarck until 6:30 p.m. - too late to get back for the 7 p.m. graduation ceremony in Gwinner, about 200 miles southeast.

Superintendent Harlan Heinrich said Tuesday that members of the senior class and their parents agreed to delay the graduation ceremony for an hour.

"We have changed it from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. That was the wishes of the senior parents and the seniors. They were in unanimous support of that," Heinrich said after surveying the 18 families Tuesday.

The students taking part of the track meet have arranged a charter flight back to Gwinner, he said. He was not sure how the flight would be financed but said it would not be school funded. The students could then return to Bismarck on Saturday for the track finals, he said.

"There were some parents that questioned changing (the graduation ceremony time) because announcements had been sent out," Heinrich said. "Aside from that inconvenience, basically, you just can't arbitrarily go out and say, 'Let's change it.'

"We needed the time to conduct the survey and inform the parents as to the rationale," Heinrich said. "Hopefully, now we can move forward."

Some students had planned to announce they would boycott the graduation ceremony until Peterson, Grieger and Sims got back, parent Duane Peterson said earlier.