BySTEVETHOMAS

BismarckTribune

The setting is unique, but the results are likely to be commonplace at today's Dick Karlgaard-Quarterback Club cross country meet.

TomO'Leary Golf Course offers runners variety and challenges they're unlikely to see elsewhere. But it's unlikely any of the teams entered in the event have the horsepower to derail the talented Bismarck boys and girls teams.

"Iwould say as far as courses in the state it's probably the hilliest," said Dave Zittleman, who shares Bismarck boys coaching duties with Darrell Anderson. "… One side is flat and the other side is hilly, so we've got some interesting terrain."

Although it's a tough course, Zittleman said runners take to it well.

"The kids like it.It goes by quickly even though it's a slow course. If you break 17 minutes on our course it's a good time," Zittleman said. "… We've got four really good hills that are going to affect your time and on the second lap a lot of things happen on that course. If you go out too hard you're definitely going to pay for it the second time around."

Today's schedule begins with the 5-kilometer varsity boys race at 2 p.m. The 4-K varsity girls race will start at about 2:25 with junior varsity boys and girls races and junior high boys and girls runs to follow.

Bismarck won both the boys and girls races last year onSept. 20 over a field that included six Class A teams and 11 Class Bschools. The head count could be even more limited at this year's Quarterback meet.

"As far as we know it's ourselves, Mandan, Century and Dickinson … and then maybe around 10 Class B schools, mostly from the west," BHS girls coachScott Reichenberger said.

Reichenberger said the field is limited by a couple of factors. The Labor Day weekend forced the race from Friday to Thursday due to course availability. Then there's a schedule logjam. Races are slated at West Fargo today and at Minot on Friday.

Zittleman said he expects to see the three local schools plus Dickinson, Washburn-Wilton, Bowman,Parshall, Killdeer, New Town and Garrison. Standing Rock and New Salem are other possibilities.

"It's a pretty small meet. We have a holiday weekend coming up and no one is hosting on Saturday,"Zittleman said. "And not many teams want to travel."

The Quarterback meet was anchored in late September for many years. However, the desirability of that weekend began to erode as many schools, Bismarck and Century included, began to look out-of-state. The Roy Griak meet in the TwinCities and the Rapid City Invitational are scheduled the tail end of September. Both events draw from North Dakota.

Bismarck's boys are on a run of five straight state championships. The BHSgirls have won two straight.

Both are ranked No. 1 in the state coaches' poll and both are coming off wins in last week's meet at Dickinson. The Bismarck boys won by 55 over runner-up Century. The Demons won the girls run by 20 points over Fargo South.

Reichenberger said the showing at Dickinson was especially rewarding because two of his runners - Taylor Pintar and Tessa Haussler -were unable to compete due to illness.

"The greatest thing about it was Shanice Lambert (third) and Alana Fischer(fourth) up front did a real nice job … and some of our other girls stepped up and ran really well," Reichenberger said. "Brittney Brown Otter was in eighth place. She had a very, very nice race. Casie Gates was our fourth runner. She was 14th and showed a lot of consistency and leadership. And BrooklynBeehler was 20th and it was her first meet of the year. …We expect her to get better each week."

Likewise, Zittleman gave the Demon boys high marks for their effort at Dickinson. "We had a really good race in Dickinson," he said. "We had nine in the top 16 … and the boys won the junior varsity. We've got really good depth this year. The kids have really improved from last year to this year."

Christian Brown Otter took individual honors at Dickinson with BrandonBarnes (fifth), JoshHintz (sixth), Lucas Degree (eighth) and Lane Kahsur (ninth)also finishing in the top 10.

"We really, really ran well over the last half of the race in Dickinson,"Zittleman said. "It was fun."