2 weeks Ago By Katie Ringer
JAMESTOWN — Saturday was cause for celebration in the Ihmel household — times two. Wil and Ruby Ihmel of Bismarck Century swept the 2024 Class A State Cross-Country Championships. The Ihmel siblings are the first brother-sister duo to sweep the state meet since Jamestown's Justin and Jessica Schweitzer did so in the fall of 1996.
ADVERTISEMENT Bismarck High picked up its second straight title for the boys team while Williston earned the Class A Girls title. Before August, the siblings weren't enrolled in a North Dakota High School. "We moved here from Boise, Idaho a week or two before school started," Ruby said.
"It's nervewracking going into a new team and meeting a bunch of new people but I think with cross-country the environment is so welcoming. It was good from the start." Ruby, a sophomore for the Patriots, has been running competitively since middle school.
"My parents are runners and I've seen them run my whole life," Ruby said. "They go out for a run together every day and they love it. I just wanted to start doing that.
I started in seventh grade then switched to just focusing on running in eighth grade." Ruby won the 2023 5A Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) State Cross-Country Championships with a time of 18:06. She has dropped more than 50 seconds off her time since last October.
The sophomore's best time is sitting at 17:13. "She gives me a lot of motivation," Wil said of Ruby. "It's like having a built in running buddy in your family.
She's really good and gives me a lot of motivation." ADVERTISEMENT Ruby crossed the line on Saturday with a time of 17 minutes, 28 seconds — 1 minute and 20 seconds ahead of the state runner-up Harley Jeannotte of Williston. Her time was the fastest any athlete has finished in the state meet since Karly Ackley of Grand Forks Central posted a 17:13 in the fall of 2016.
"It feels good — I wanted to keep it going — it's kind of a goal of mine to win it all four years," Ruby said. "It feels amazing especially for me and my brother to both be at the top." Wil also made an appearance at the Idaho State Championships but wound up finishing in 20th with a time of 16:19.
On Saturday, the senior notched a time of 15:15. "Wil is a big inspiration for me," Ruby said. "He's such a hard worker and he just fights for it.
He deserves everything. I really look up to him." Wil was in control for the entire race, "I was confident," Wil said.
"Coming into the race at 6-0 obviously I had a big target on my back and it's easier to be the hunter rather than the hunted. I knew they were going to go with me. They matched every move which was good on Owen (Hintz) and Dawson's (Balzer) part.
They made it a fun race." Hintz and Balzer, both seniors out of Bismarck High, finished second and third posting times of 15:22 and 15:51 respectively. ADVERTISEMENT "Owen is quicker than me just with footspeed so I was a little worried he was going to come and get me," Wil said with a laugh.
"Crossing the line, I was really happy. It feels amazing to get my first state title my senior year." The Blue Jay boys placed 17th out of 22 teams while the girls got 16th out of 21 teams.
Micah Stoudt was the top finisher for the Blue Jay boys with a personal best time of 17:19. Millicent Maus was the Blue Jay girls No. 1 runner with a time of 21:33 to place 83rd.
"I was glad to see some really good times — even a handful of 5K PRs — for the Blue Jays on a windy day and on one of the tougher courses we run," JHS head coach Ken Gardner said. "The girls team held their own and the boys ran much better than two weeks ago. The Blue Jays had a great season seeing impressive improvements from a wide range of runners.
" Class A State Cross-Country Championships Team results ADVERTISEMENT Boys 1. Bismarck High 23; 2. Williston 98; 3.
Century 113; 4. Red River 117; 5. Mandan 139; 6.
Davies 182; 7. Shanley 216; 8. Minot 305; 9.
Dickinson 323; 10. Minot North 334; 11. Sheyenne 373; 12.
Grand Forks Central 405; 13. Devils Lake 478; 14. Legacy 481; 15.
West Fargo 491; 16. Fargo North 527; 17. Jamestown 592; 18.
Watford City 637; 19. Valley City 676; 20. Horace 689; 21.
Fargo South 731; 22. TMCHS 877. Girls 1.
Williston 86; 2. Bismarck High 86; 3. Minot 92; 4.
Century 106; 5. Legacy 127; 6. Sheyenne 152; 7.
Shanley 211; 8. Davies 213; 9. Dickinson 232; 10.
Red River 264; 11. Mandan 325; 12. Devils Lake 331; 13.
West Fargo 379; 14. Horace 435; 15. Fargo North 453; 16.
Jamestown 568; 17. Valley City 628; 18. Grand Forks Central 631; 19.
Fargo South 703; 20. Watford City 726; 21. TMCHS 850.
Top-20 finishers Boys 1. Wil Ihmels, BC, 15:15; 2. Owen Hintz, BHS, 15:22; 3.
Dawson Balzer, BHS, 15:51; 4. Connor Ensign, BHS, 15:56; 5. Jakson Ensign, BHS, 16:00; 6.
Joe Quinn, RR, 16:13; 7. Owen Cowan, WIL, 16:15; 8. Wyatt Adkins, WIL, 16:21; 9.
Jacob Windsor, BHS, 16:21; 10. Charles Hale, MAN, 16:22; 11. Luka Rout, FD, 16:25; 12.
Jack Elsberry, BC, 16:26; 13. Dallin Chapman, MIN-N, 16:26.8; 14.
Caleb Swisher, DHS, 16:27; 15. Ethan Erickson, SHAN, 16:29; 16. Travis Frise, WIL, 16:32; 17.
Cohen Dunnigan, RR, 16:34; 18. Isaac Amundson, WF, 16:35; 19. Elijah Dafoe, RR, 16:36; 20.
Terry Brownotter, MAN, 16:36. ADVERTISEMENT Girls 1. Ruby Ihmels, BC, 17:28; 2.
Harley Jeannotte, WIL, 18:48; 3. Taya Fettig, BHS, 19:00; 4. Eva Selensky, LEG, 19:05; 5.
Izzy Dahl, BHS, 19:34; 6. Aubrey Kleser, BHS, 19:34.9; 7.
Lucy Harris, MIN, 19:36; 8. Mattea Green, RR, 19:41; 9. Audrey Echelbarger, BC, 19:42; 10.
Emmie Fellows, WFS, 19:43; 11. Kathryn Madrigga, WFS, 19:43.4; 12.
Maggie Jacobson, WF, 19:43.5; 13. Hannah Hintz, BHS, 19:46; 14.
Leila Gregoire, DHS, 19:47; 15. Kaylee Jackson, MIN, 19:51; 16. Alyviah Kopp, MIN, 19:52; 17.
Cambree Moss, WIL, 19:53; 18. Ava Parks, RR, 19:57; 19. Sophia Lade, MIN, 19:57.
8; 20. Angela Wold, WIL, 20:02. Blue Jay results Girls 83.
Millicent Maus 21:33; 110. Layna Hoffer 22:21; 115. Ellie Krueger 22:29; 124.
Hattie Fitzgerald 22:51; 136. Hadley Jackson 23:16; 145. Layla Becker 23:32; 153.
Stella Belzer 24:11; 161. Clara Harms 24:22; 164. Emma Flieth 24:35; 170.
Jayla Hoffer 24:42. Boys 48. Micah Stoudt 17:19; 124.
Jaydyn Velek 18:40; 125. Heath Heupel 18:42; 142. Dax Wick 18:58; 153.
Brock Truax 19:12; 160. Tristan Champagne 19:22; 179. Kamden Herzig 19:56; 185.
Leif Hanson 20:19; 200. August Harms 21:45. ADVERTISEMENT Full results can be found at https://live.
herostiming.com/meets/40863..
