Bismarck high school cross country is ready to add to their tradition of success
BISMARCK, N.D. (BVM) — With North Dakota high school cross country practices officially beginning Monday and Bismarck High School’s first meet in less than two weeks, Demon head coach Scott Reichenberger likes where his teams are at.
“The boys and the girls have had a pretty good summer,” Reichenberger said.
This will be Reichenberger’s 24th season as the girls cross country head coach and first as the boys head coach, taking over for long time coach Darrell Anderson. Anderson has coached the Demons since 1980 and was even Reichenberger’s coach when he attended Bismarck High back in the 1980s.
For a diehard Bismarck Demon, it is both an honor and a challenge to take over a program that has won 13 state championships under Anderson while also still coaching a girls program that has won six state championships and has been state runner-up six times. However, Reichenberger is ready for it.
“The biggest challenge for me this year will be using my great assistant coaches to delegate a little more,’ Reichenberger said.
Both teams enter the season with high expectations and the potential for success.
“On the girls side we have the same crew back from last year and that’s a younger group so we should be pretty competitive,” Reichenberger said.
Last season, with three of their top five girls including two freshmen and an eighth grader, the Demons came out firing on all cylinders winning multiple meets. Then in both the region and the state meet, BHS fell just short of winning to Williston, losing the region by a point and state by three points. The losses were tough but Reichenberger and the Demons have used it as motivation.
“This
year I’m a little more confident because they know what they’re capable of … We’ll be competitive and we’ll be in the mix,” Reichenberger said.
With most of the team returning, the girls are ready for round two against Williston. As for the boys side, they finished fourth at the state meet last year but did lose All-American senior Sean Korsmo, who will be entering his first year at Tulsa this fall.
“We’re in a bit of a rebuild but we do have some solid boys up front,” Reichenberger said.
Returning runners like Noah Cowley, Jaxsyn Olson, Parker Hintz and Brady Korsmo will be the key contributors to a Demon squad that is looking to add more numbers to their roster. However, after coaching them during the track season, Reichenberger is confident in his team as he enters his first year as the boys head coach.
“We’re going to be pretty good, we just have to get the numbers up,” Reichenberger said.
Above all else, Reichenberger, the coaching staff and the runners are just excited for the season, especially after having a somewhat normal track season and a summer in which Reichenberger was honored with the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Girls Cross Country National Coach of the Year award.
“It’s very cool to be recognized, but the biggest thing is I think back to all the great that I’ve worked with and all the great runners that I’ve worked with,” Reichenberger said. “So even though there’s a name on the award, I really feel it should almost be a Bismarck High cross country award.”
That has always been Reichenberger’s approach to coaching. It is a team effort and no one person does it alone. It is the reason both the boys and girls cross country teams at Bismarck high have so much success and Reichenberger takes pride in that tradition.
“We have a great tradition,” Reichenberger said.
Now it will be up to him, his stellar coaching staff and the young runners that are on both programs to continue that tradition into the future as they enter a new chapter with Reichenberger.
