How the North Dakota Class B boys 400 meters came down to a double nose-dive

BISMARCK — Hillsboro-Central Valley senior Henry Nelson knew his lean wasn’t going to be enough.

Carrington junior Logan Weninger knew subconsciously if he didn’t dive he might not win.

So the North Dakota Class B boys 400 meters came down to a double nose-dive Saturday at the state meet in the Bismarck Community Bowl.

Officially, it was Weninger at 49.71 seconds and Nelson at 49.74 seconds in one of the most memorable finishes in recent state history.

“I didn’t hold back anything,” Nelson said. “I caught up to Logan and nothing was breaking. We were both in it to win it and side-by-side. I felt like he was slightly ahead. I gave it one more stride and jumped in. I guess that was the same he was thinking.”

“I didn’t really think about it, it just happened,” Weninger said. “It was so last-second. I knew we both jumped, but I didn’t know who won. We rolled across the finish line and had no idea who won until they showed the times on the board about 15 seconds later.”

It was Weninger’s first state championship.

“Looking back, it looks awesome,” Nelson said. “Not winning kind of sucks, but I’m going to remember that forever.”

Nelson’s time was a school record.

“It’s crazy,” Hillsboro-Central Valley coach Kirk Zink said. “You see it coming the whole way in lanes 4 and 5. They battled back and forth with the fastest time all year long. They went 100 meters down the back stretch side-by-side. That was awesome. That was cool to see. That’s what keeps fans coming back and what gets young kids excited about the future. Obviously, you’d like to win the race but at the same token, to see a kid battle like that, it was fun.”

After the race, Nelson told Weninger to break 49 seconds next year.

“I told him great job,” Nelson said. “He told me it was a great race and he hopes he doesn’t have to jump like that for anything again.”

Nelson said he’s never thought of diving at the finish before.

“That has never come to my mind, ever,” he said. “I don’t know why … I just knew I couldn’t win if I didn’t jump. I’ve seen it on a few races, but I’ve never thought it would come to that. I guess it did.”

Weninger, meanwhile, had already had a similar finish earlier in the day.

“In the 300 hurdles, I dove at the end and took second,” Weninger said. “Coach said don’t make a habit of that, and then I go do it in the 400. I was in first place until the last hurdle, then hit a hurdle, knocked it over and tripped and knew I was going down anyway. I had to dive or I wouldn’t make it.”

Zink said there was a little discussion about the rulebook after the dives.

“The rules really frown at diving at the finish line, but that would be disheartening for those two to be removed when they were clearly the best,” Zink said.

The two paid a physical price for the dives.

“Right when I landed, I didn’t feel anything,” Nelson said. “My legs were toast. Ten minutes after, I felt some stinging in my right shoulder.”

“I just got done taking a shower and it was pretty painful,” Weninger said. “I have some road burn. It’s all over my shoulder and arm.”

Overall, it was a big day for Nelson, despite the narrow loss in the 400. Nelson ran a leg on two first-place state championship relay teams for the Burros. The Burros won state titles in the 4×200 and 4×400.

The 4×200 team included Nelson, Kason Buchholz, John Kaldor and Micah Longthorne, who also won the high jump the day before. The 4×400 relay team was Nelson, Longthorne, Rylan Buchholz and Christian Brist, who also took second in the 800 meters.

In the 4×400, HCV had to beat a Bowman County team that was dominant all weekend in the middle distance and long distance races.

“Everyone had tired kids,” Zink said. “We had kids running races all day. At the end of the third leg, we got the baton to Henry Nelson. We got a decent lead at 100 meters in and there’s not many catching Henry to close out the weekend. It was a blast. It was a lot like our 4×200. It couldn’t have gone a lot better. We had a terrific relay weekend.”