OAKES, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The 2019 North Dakota State Track & Field Meet was capped off by a thrilling, suspenseful class B boys 4×400 meter relay.

The Oakes Tornadoes relay team clipped Hillsboro/Central Valley by .06 seconds to make all those long practices well worth it for Oakes junior Brackin Awender.

The 4×400 relay consisted of Awender, freshman David Schmitz, sophomore Garret Meehl and junior Logan Sell. Being as young as they are, this season was the first time the four worked in a relay together, and a state championship wasn’t in the cards for Meehl.

The team gelled more and more as the season rolled along, and they turned out to be better than “pretty good.” They turned out to be the best in the state.

The relay began with Schmitz and then to Awender. Near the end of Awender’s stint, he realized something wasn’t right.

After the race, Awender would end up on crutches and diagnosed with a partial tear to his planter fascia. The bottom line, however, is that he did his job and got the baton off  to Meehl.

Exhausted as well, Meehl did his part and handed it off to Logan Sell to finish it off. Trailing down the final stretch, Sell pulled ahead towards the very end of the race to edge out Hillsboro/Central Valley in front of an energized Oakes crowd. It was a surreal moment for Awender, and Meehl never doubted the victory.

The team finished with a time of 3:28.56 and eked out the victory by just .06 ahead of Hillsboro/Central Valley. Both Oakes and Hillsboro/Central Valley will return all four runners next year, and Meehl and Awender are anticipating another strong rematch next May.

The complete interview with Awender and Meehl can be heard below.