The Dick Karlgaard Bismarck Quarterback Club cross country meet is Joash Osoro's Mount Everest.

Unlike most of the meets Osoro has run in over the years, the Bismarck High standout has never won the Quarterback.

There's a reason for Osoro's lack of success in his own back yard, however. The St. Mary's senior, who is a co-op runner for BHS, has run in only one Quarterback race. That was his sophomore year and he failed to make the top 20.

In 2006 and 2007 the Quarterback run was suspended, leaving Osoro with one last crack at the demanding Tom O'Leary course. Naturally, he wants to leave a favorable impression in his final high school race in the Capital City.

"We want to do well," Osoro said. "We don't want anyone to beat us at home.That's the last thing we want to happen."

The Quarterback, one of the state's oldest and most storied high school cross country events, is scheduled for noon today. Action kicks off with the boys varsity race. That will be followed, in order, by the junior varsity boys, the varsity girls, junior varsity girls, boys junior high and girls junior high runs.

Dave Zittleman, who shares BHScoaching duties with Darrell Anderson, said the race's two-year hiatus had a couple of causes.

Initially, Bismarck and Minot agreed to alternate the weekend because so many teams go to out-of-state meets in late September. Then Bismarck gave up its year in the rotation in 2007 because the Magic City course was the state meet site.

"There are two consecutive weekends for teams to go out of state," Zittleman said. "The Mega Milaca meet (inFoley, Minn.) is this weekend and ValleyCity has a meet this weekend, too. Next week is the Roy Griak meet(at the University of Minnesota).

"So Minot and Bismarck trade off and host a meet every two years."

As a cross country purist, Zittleman likes the idea of hosting a race at TomO'Leary.

"It's always fun to run on Tom O'Leary, which is a very demanding course," Zittleman said. "It's basically a two-lap course for boys and girls and both boys and girls have two demanding hills in those two loops. It's a true cross country course … It's a tough course to get into a flow on."

As a measure of the O'Leary layout's difficulty, Osoro has run a 15:33 for five kilometers. No one has come close to that on O'Leary.

"Sam Larson of Jamestown is the only one to break 17 minutes on Tom O'Leary. That was at the state meet in 2005,"Zittleman said.

Larson ran a 16:45 to win the state meet at O'Leary as a junior, a little over a month after winning the Quarterback run in 16:42.

Zittleman expects a field of 20 to 25 schools for Saturday's varsity races.

"Ithink we'll have six Class Aschools coming in, and I'd guess anywhere from 15 to 20 Class B schools will show up," he said.

Zittleman said he's expecting three of the top four boys teams in the state - BHS, Jamestown and Century -to run at O'Leary today. The girls field will probably include No. 1-ranked Bismarck and No. 5 Dickinson.

The Class B boys field is likely to include top-ranked New Town and third-rated Parshall. No. 1 Parshall, No. 2 Bowman County and No. 4 Minot Ryan are among the Class B girls teams expected to attend.

STATECOACHES'POLL

Class ABoys

Teams:1. Bismarck. 2. Jamestown. 3. Fargo North. 4. Century. 5. Williston.

Also receiving votes:Grand Forks Central, West Fargo.

Individuals:1. Joash Osoro,Bismarck. 2. DevinHuizenga,Bismarck. 3. Jordan Slusser, Jamestown. 4. Mach Akon,Fargo North. 5. Christian Brown Otter, Bismarck. 6. Josh Nuss, Bismarck. 7. Mark Anderson,Williston. 8. Brett Kelly,Century. 9. Taylor Thompson, Williston. 10. Waha Sem,Fargo North.

Class AGirls

Teams:1. Bismarck. 2. West Fargo. 3. Minot. 4. Fargo South. 5. Dickinson.

Individuals:1. Alissa Mears, West Fargo. 2. Brecca Wahlund, Minot. 3. Dakota Wolf, Dickinson. 4. Tarin Lachowitzer, Fargo South. 5. Taylor Pintar,Bismarck. 6. Alexa Wachter,Bismarck. 7. NikkiHuelsman,Century. 8. StephGreer, Minot. 9. Andrea Markwart,Century. 10. Shanice Lambert, Bismarck.

Class B Boys

Teams: 1. New Town. 2. Lisbon. 3. Parshall. 4. Rugby. 5. Grafton.

Individuals:1. JeremyGrinnell, New Town. 2. Justin Grinnell, New Town. 3. Justin ManyRibs, Parshall. 4. Jayce Seelig, Lisbon. 5. Oliver Dauphinais, Four Winds. 6. Ken Wells,Parshall. 7. Jordan Cieslak, Beulah-Hazen. 8. Anthony Finstad, Lisbon. 9. Devon Yellow Wolf, Mandaree. 10. Gabe Fettig, Killdeer.

Class B Girls

Teams:1. Parshall. 2. Bowman County. 3. Rugby. 4. Minot Ryan. 5. Grafton.

Also receiving votes: Watford City.

Individuals:1. Nicole Woinarwoicz, Grafton. 2. Sydney Kraft, Rugby. 3. Jayli Fimbres, New Town. 4. Sibee Jokela, Watford City. 5.Courtney Shell, Minot Ryan. 6. Amanda Indergaard, Carrington. 7. TiffanyJaeger, Washburn-Wilton. 8.Chloe Tweten, Grafton. 9. Skye Schaper, Killdeer. 10. Kara Kuntz, Velva.