1 week Ago By Ryan Spitza
FARGO — Thursday’s track and field meet at Horace High School marked the beginning of the outdoor season one final time for this year’s seniors. Axumite Wren James and Nishi Yvette are two of those seniors along with being two of Fargo South’s four captains on the girls team this season. Bright futures are ahead for both.
James will run collegiately at North Dakota State next season while Yvette will compete at the University of Jamestown. But for now, nothing would mean more than a few more personal bests, event wins or perhaps even standing atop the podium at Bismarck’s MDU Resources Community Bowl during the state meet in May as their high school careers wind down. “(Fargo South) has been a place where I’ve really grown as a person and an individual,” James said.
“And where I’ve made genuinely lifelong connections with my teams, coaches and things like that. Track, it just teaches you to push your boundaries and to do what you’re not really expecting. I think that’s super, super cool and to form those bonds and everything with people and just grow as an individual.
” “It’s crazy, time flies,” Yvette added. “It feels like just yesterday I was an eighth-grader.” Both James and Yvette joined the Bruins track team in eighth grade.
Since then, the duo have emerged as two of South’s best. James’ career culminated with a state championship win in the Class A high jump final as a junior, clearing 5 feet, 5 inches to become South’s first individual girls champion since Madeline Strandemo in the 800-meter run and Lindsey Klug in the 100-meter hurdles, both in 2013. She’s also a two-time East Region high jump champion, setting her personal-best of 5-6 at last season’s conference meet.
“That was a really fun experience and a really cool moment,” James said of last year’s state title win. “I was just really happy to have my team around me and supporting me. My coach was obviously super excited for me.
We worked for that, so it’s super cool.” James has also been a state qualifier in the 4x200-meter relay, 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and the triple jump. She’s reached the podium at state a total of five times, finishing third in the 100 hurdles final last season, eighth in the 100 hurdles in 2023, fourth in the triple jump in 2023 and fifth in the triple jump in 2022 along with last year’s high jump win.
Yvette on the other hand has been a state qualifier in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay teams as well as the 100- and 200- meter dashes. She’s been a part of five relay podiums at the East Region meet — three in the 4x200 and two in the 4x100 — along with a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash and seventh-place mark in the 100-meter dash last season, setting new PRs in both events. Yvette said her priority is improving her times in the sprint events this year after what could be considered a breakout 2024 season.
She clocked a 12.63 in the 100 at last year’s conference meet followed by a 26.43 in the 200.
“My goal for the outdoor season is just to try my best and give it my all since it's my last season,” Yvette said. “The 200 (dash) is my first love. I really hope to improve on the 100.
I feel like that’s something I kind of struggle with more than the two.” Yvette signed to compete and continue her academics at Jamestown in December. The Jimmies are set to move up to the NCAA Division II level and will be members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference beginning in 2025-26.
She’ll join former South distance runner Isabelle Julian as the second Bruin on the Jimmies’ track and field roster. “It’s always been the goal since day one,” Yvette said of running in college. “Jamestown was actually my first offer.
I had a couple of other offers, but I stuck with Jamestown because it was close to home. It just felt like I belonged there.” James will be the first South trackster to compete for the Division I Bison since former Bruins distance runner Katie Bostrom, who was with NDSU from 2015-19.
James signed with her hometown college back in January. “I started looking at NDSU, started talking with them and I really just thought, ‘Hey, this is my place,’ ” James said. “So I signed, and I’m super excited for that.
“I think it has the size of classes I think I’ll really enjoy, and the coaches at NDSU are amazing. I’ve been going to their camps since fifth grade, so I kind of had a connection already with that. Then they had my (public history) major I’m going to work for, as well.
” South girls head coach Mike Grant said James’ and Yvette’s passion for the sport is above and beyond anything he’s seen before. That passion is why both are team captains. “I could go on about that for days, but it really starts with their work ethic and their positive attitude,” Grant said.
“They just have that drive and desire to get better every day. They are track and field junkies, they just love it. They watch all sorts of YouTube videos of races and they come to me with ideas on things.
It’s that passion that they have for just getting better.” Being in that leadership role is something both James and Yvette take seriously, but that still doesn’t make them feel like they’re above any of their teammates. “Most of the time, you can’t really tell who the captains are minus some key bits,” James said.
“I feel like we’re all really leaders on the team and I think that’s super cool. This is such a great group. There’s such a good bond between all of us.
” “We’ve been trying our best to set an example for the younger ones and lead them as best as we can,” Yvette added. Senior season is off to a strong start for both. James capped the indoor portion of the season with a high jump win of 5-0 at the Eastern Dakota Conference meet on April 5 and finished runner-up in the event at the Class A state indoor with a mark of 5-5 on March 28.
Thursday’s Horace Lions Invitational saw James win four events, including the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, the high jump and the long jump. Yvette, meanwhile, showed her strength in the 200-meter dash during the indoor season with a fourth-place finish at the EDC meet and a sixth at the Class A competition. She kicked off her outdoor campaign Thursday with three podiums in the Horace meet, including a pair of runner-ups in the 200 dash and 4x100-meter relay along with a third-place in the 100-meter dash.
While the conference and state meets remain a little more than a month away, both Yvette and James are already thinking about making the most of their final high school competitions. “It would mean everything to me,” Yvette said. “It’s been a goal since day one, since eighth grade.
(Fargo South) means a lot. I’ve been here for what feels like my whole life.” “That’d be really cool,” James added.
“I’m just hoping to reach my goals for the season and that would be really exciting.”.
