JUMPING IN HIS SHOES: Belquist breaks records in triple jump wearing uncle's shoes

As Spike Lee's character in the Nike Air Jordan commercial spots from the late 1980's asserted, "It's gotta be the shoes."

Bo Belquist dug into his closet to retrieve the magic spikes his uncle Alex used to set the New Rockford standard in the triple jump back in 2004.

He laced the golden kicks up at the CNDC Outdoor Track Meet in Rugby last Tuesday, let himself get airborne with a hop, skip and jump, and listened for the event marshal's distance. Forty-three feet, nine and one-quarter inches.

Belquist's jump was a meet and school record, beating Alex's old mark by 2 1/4 inches, and puts him further up the state leaderboards in the event heading into the final weeks of the season.

He would add two second-place runs in the 200 and 400-meter dashes, along with a third in the 100. "Earlier this year, Belquist also broke the school long jump record held by Lowell Linderman, which stood for 50 years."

Also for the Rocket boys, Parker Granger was a double placer in the 100 (fifth) and 400 (sixth), as was Johnny Grann in the 800 and 1,600-meter runs by taking fifth and eighth, respectively.

Hunter Johnson was fifth in the discus, and Kaden Jensen took sixth in the triple jump.

In the girls' meet, Kelsie Belquist was runner-up in the 400 and 300-meter hurdles, and added a fourth in the triple and seventh in the long jump. Brianna Price was fourth in the 400 and fifth in both the short sprints, and Hannah Haley added a third in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the 300.

Chloe Heinz was a dual placer, taking third in the 1,600 and fifth in the 800. The other placer for the Rockets was Elizabeth Widmer (7th, 100).

As expected, Rugby ran away with the team titles, scoring 200-plus points in each race. The Rocket girls took fourth with 59 points, and the boys, scoring 53, took sixth.

Full NR-S results from the CNDC Outdoor Track Meet are listed below.

CNDC Outdoor Track Meet, Rugby

Boys' Team Scores

Rugby 222.5, Benson Co. 99, Northern Lights 90, Velva/Drake-Anamoose 58, Surrey 56, NR-S 53, Glenburn 51, HWC 42.5, Rolette-Wolford 24, Dunseith 5.

Boys' Results

100-Meter Dash: Bo Belquist (3rd), 11.80; Parker Granger (5th), 12.00

200-Meter Dash: Belquist (2nd), 23.66; Nick Berglund (11th), 26.21; Kaden Jensen (13th), 26.71

400-Meter Dash: Belquist (2nd), 53.54; Granger (6th), 58.28; Berglund (11th), 1:00.59

800-Meter Run: Johnny Grann (5th), 2:25.50

1,600-Meter Run: Grann (8th), 5:22.13

Long Jump: Jensen (11th), 16' 7 1/2"

Triple Jump: Belquist (1st), 43' 9 1/4" (state qualifier, meet record and NR-S school record, old record 43'7", Alex Belquist, 2004); Jensen (6th), 36' 8 1/2"

Shot Put: Hunter Johnson (9th), 35' 1 1/2"; Logan Munson (12th), 33'0"; Evan Ulrich (15th), 32'3"

Discus: Johnson (5th), 111'0"; Ulrich (7th), 105'3"; Munson (20th), 69'2"

Girls' Team Scores

Rugby 249, HWC 109, V-D-A 80, NR-S 59, Northern Lights 57, Glenburn 55, Benson Co. 43, Rolette-Wolford 33, Surrey 13, Dunseith 5.

100-Meter Dash: Brianna Price (5th), 14.11; Elizabeth Widmer (7th), 14.33

200-Meter Dash: Price (5th), 28.76; Hannah Haley (10th), 30.65

400-Meter Dash: Kelsie Belquist (2nd), 1:03.45; Price (4th), 1:05.25

800-Meter Run: Chloe Heinz (5th), 2:48.82

1,600-Meter Run: Heinz (3rd), 6:12.17

100-Meter Hurdles: Haley (3rd), 17.30

300-Meter Hurdles: Belquist (2nd), 49.50; Haley (4th), 52.60

Long Jump: Belquist (7th), 14' 6 1/4"; Kayahna Hopfauf (13th), 13'0"

Triple Jump: Belquist (4th), 33' 5 1/2"

Shot Put: Kenna Munson (9th), 29'10"

Discus: Chloe Guthmiller (13th), 79'3"; Munson (21st), 63'9"