Blue Jays Roundup: Baseball team wins Saturday, moving on to next round

WILLISTON, N.D. — Thanks to Jamestown, the Williston High School baseball team won't be playing in the 2025 NDHSAA State Baseball Tournament next weekend.

The Blue Jays defeated Williston 9-2 in Saturday's state qualifying game to advance to the NDHSAA State Tournament for the first time since 2023.

"I’m really happy for the guys who all put a lot of time in the off-season and worked hard all season with me," JHS head coach Tim Ranum said. "If you would have told me going into the year that we would have Thomas Newman on the mound with a chance to go to state, I’d have signed up for that immediately.

"I told that to the team on Friday night and Thomas rose to the challenge keeping them off balance the entire game," he said.

Newman closed out the Jays' pitching game on Saturday. The senior went the distance and gave up just two runs off three hits. Newman walked three and struck out seven.

"He also set the tone for us offensively by getting on base and stealing nearly every base," Ranum said of Newman.

Newman batted 1.000 going 2-for-2 with a double

In the fourth and fifth innings, Ranum said the Jays did an excellent job of situational hitting to really break open a competitive ball game.

At the plate, the Jays were hot, producing eight hits. while Jaxon Kolpin went 1-3 with two driven in. Ethan Oettle went 2-for-3 and earned one of the Jays seven RBIs.

Bennett Goehner, Edison Walter and Braxton Perkins also recorded one hit.

"Again, I am super proud of how our guys played all weekend and we’re excited for more baseball," Ranum said.

Jamestown 9, Williston 2

WIL 000 101 0 — 2 3 1

JHS 001 350 X — 9 8 0

WIL: Jaxon Jeannotte; Ashton Nickoloff (4); Jaxon Tamez (5); Kallon Delorme; JHS: Thomas Newman. W — Newman. L — Jeannotte.

Highlights: JHS — Thomas Newman (6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K) 2-2, 2B; Jaxon Kolpin 1-3, 2 RBI; Edison Walters 1-2, 2B; Braxton Perkins 1-4, RBI; Bennett Goehner 1-3; Ethan Oettle 2-3, RBI.

WIL — Justin Irgens 1-2, 3B; Eden Mortenson 1-3, 3B; Nickoloff 1-2.

Temperatures in the high 60s made Saturday a perfect last day of the 2025 NDHSAA Track and Field season.

Senior Noah Lynch placed eighth in the 400 meter dash, clocking a time of 50.99 seconds. Brady Harty finished ninth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.17 seconds. Harty and Aiden Skari placed 15th and 16th respectively in triple jump. Harty's jump measured 41 feet, 4.75 inches while Skari's best jump was recorded at 41 feet, 2 inches.

The 4x800 meter relay team put up a personal best time of 8:18.31 to place ninth in the finals.

Cody Berreth got 11th in the shot put contest and 19th in the discus finals with marks of 49 feet, 9 inches and 135 feet, 3 inches respectively. In javelin, the Jays had two athletes place within the top-20. Jacoby Traut finished in 11th place with a mark of 159-01 while Grant Lunde placed 17th throwing his javelin 144 feet, 7 inches.

Julia Skari placed third in the 300 hurdles, posting a season-best time of 45.35 seconds. In the 100 hurdles, the Blue Jay senior finished second 0.38 seconds behind Fargo Davies' Kate Laqua who crossed the finish line at 14.38 seconds.

Jamestown’s Julia Skari runs in the girls 300 meter hurdles during day two of the Class A NDHSAA State Track & Field Meet on Friday, May 23, 2025, at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck.

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum

Hayden Olson placed 19th in triple jump with a mark of 33 feet, 7.75 inches and 17th in long jump with a mark of 16-0.25. Anna Kern finished 28th in long jump, jumping 15 feet, 2.25 inches.

Layna Hoffer placed seventh in high jump, clearing the bar at 5 feet, 1 inch.

Addison Marker hit a personal best in discus on Saturday with a throw of 114 feet, 2 inches. The senior placed 23rd in the shot put contest, throwing her shot 34 feet, 10 inches.

Cece Romsdal, Layna Hoffer, Claire Marker and Mia Kaiser ran to a 10th place finish in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:13.26.

Katie Ringer is a sports reporter for the Jamestown Sun. Katie joined the Sun staff in the summer of 2019 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with a degree in journalism. She can be reached by email at kringer@jamestownsun.com or by phone at 701-952-8460.