By Rich Winter

605 Sports

If the name Kaleb Foltz doesn’t sound familiar to Class B track and field fans, brace yourselves, it soon will. The sophomore from Tri-State has been climbing the B ranks in several events and enters next week’s state meet with the fastest 800-meter run. 

Foltz and his Tri-State team didn’t even have a meet until the end of April. 

“I think the first meet we went to was Redfield on April 21,” Tri-State track and field coach Stacy Fritz said. 

Adding to the mystique of a relatively unknown runner, Foltz competed in Class A cross-country last fall, finishing 24th at the state meet. 

Foltz gave track fans a glimpse of his potential at the recently completed Howard Wood Dakota Relays. Taking the baton in fourth place for the anchor carry of the sprint medley relay Foltz chewed up everyone on the track including Freeman Academy/Marion’s Thalen Schroeder as the Tigers won that event. 

“They ran 3:47.03 and came in first,” Fritz said. “That is the first time since the school’s co-oped in 2017 that we’ve ever won anything at Howard Wood.” 

Tri-State was formed in 2017 and meshes the towns of Rosholt, South Dakota, Fairmont, North Dakota and Campbell-Tintah High School in Minnesota. 

Other members of that medley relay are Grayson Madsen along with brothers Dominick and Jakobe Anderson. 

“Dominick and Jakobe are both seniors and this is their first year out for track and they’ve given us a lift,” Fritz said. “We’ve been running the medley all year and the team has really gelled.” 

Exactly which events Foltz will run at the state meet remains a mystery. The 3,200 meter relay is seeded 17th with a season’s best time of (8:59.48). Foltz has the fastest Class B time in the 800-meter run (2:01.89) and the second best time in the 1,600 meters (4:40.94). 

Tri-State has also qualified their 1,600-meter relay time and are currently among the top-five teams in Class B with a season’s best of (3:37.94). 

“In a typical year we wouldn’t be able to run Kaleb in the 800-meter run and the medley relay,” Fritz said. “This year the schedule will allow us to do that.” 

Fritz noted that Foltz’s times in the 800-meter run have been getting progressively faster this season. 

“Eventually I feel like he will challenge our school record in the 800-meter run (Ben Sand, 1:57.9),” Fritz said. “He has that competitive mentality and the physical gifts to do it.”