Fenja Lawson is a national champion.
The incoming junior for Langdon Area/Munich track and field won the age 15-16 discus event at the USA Track and Field (USATF) national championships. The competition was held at Cerritos College in Norwalk, Calif., from July 27 to August 2. Norwalk is in Los Angeles County.
Lawson represented the Dinius Track & Field club, a summer travel team that’s affiliated with the USATF.
She posted a distance of 40.76 meters (or 133 feet, 8 inches) in discus on July 31.
The next-best was Shanley High School’s Addison Larson with a 40.71-meter throw.
Lawson was the best of 36 contestants in the event. She recorded her farthest distance with her first throw, posting 38.62 and 35.68 marks on subsequent attempts.
“I kind of went into it not expecting much out of the first throw. Just got to get a good mark, see if I can make it to finals,” Lawson said in an interview with Youth Runner Magazine. “And it was better than I thought. Had a few after that were close, but it got me to the finals, and that got me to the win.”
From there, Lawson moved on to the AAU Junior Olympic Games at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, from Aug. 1-8. She picked up All-American honors in discus and shot put.
Going into the competition, Lawson told Youth Runner Magazine, “I don’t care as much about the placing. I just hope I throw well. That one’s gonna be a bit tougher competition, but I’m just hoping to get a few good marks and go from there.”
Lawson competed in shot put first, on Aug. 4. She recorded a distance of 38 feet, 9.75 inches, good for sixth place out of 62 contestants. It was enough to be named an All-American.
The discus competition was held on Aug. 7. Lawson beat her previous mark by a sizable margin, with a 44.48-meter throw. That equates to 145 feet, 11.25 inches, more than 12 feet farther than her championship-winning distance at the USATF meet. She placed fourth out of 52 contestants and earned All-American honors again.
Lawson is building on a spring season where she placed third in discus and fifth in shot put at the North Dakota Class B state meet.
Sydney Schwabe joins Mayville State women’s basketball
Sydney Schwabe’s basketball career will not end with her time at Lake Region State College.
The guard from Thompson, N.D., has transferred to Mayville State University after graduating from LRSC.
Schwabe will be a part of the first Mayville State women’s basketball team under head coach Jenna Bolstad. The Comets struggled last year, going just 1-25 overall and 0-22 in Frontier Conference play. However, it was only two years earlier — the 2023-24 season — where Mayville State went 26-4, making it to the NAIA women’s basketball national tournament under Dennis Hutter.
Hutter is now the head women’s coach at UND. The Comets had been coached by Ryan Carpenter over the last two seasons.
Schwabe posted 12.8 points per game over two seasons at LRSC. She made 128 three-pointers in 405 attempts (31.6%). She added 4.5 rebounds per game.
Schwabe’s minutes per game went up from her freshman to sophomore year (25.9 to 28.9), though her scoring went down slightly (13.4 points per game to 12.2). She totaled 732 points in her Royals career, shooting 35.4% from the floor.
Schwabe also played one year of volleyball for LRSC as a sophomore. She had 1,250 assists, over 100 more than anyone else in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference.
Schwabe joins Devils Lake alum Jolie Martinson on the Comets.
With Schwabe’s departure, LRSC women’s basketball has lost its top two scorers from last year. The team’s most prolific scorer, Zoie Austin, transferred to Williston State College after one year with the Royals. Williston State made it to the NJCAA Division I national tournament last season. Austin averaged 18.6 points per game for the Royals and is now going to a conference rival.
Schwabe played both of her seasons for LRSC under head coach Colden Hutton, who’s now the Royals’ athletic director. The team will be led by first-year head coach Kori Zarzutzki this year.
Robert Lawrence, Elijah Feather Jr. join Grand Forks Huskies
A pair of former Warwick Warriors are keeping their basketball careers alive.
The Dakota Basketball League recently announced the signings of Robert Lawrence and Elijah Feather Jr. to the Grand Forks Huskies. The DBL is a new, North Dakota-based league for players 18 and over who want to continue playing competitive basketball. It is set to launch later this calendar year.
Lawrence was a Mr. Basketball runner-up back in 2000. He went on to play for LRSC and Mayville State. He recently completed his first year returning to Warwick as the boys’ basketball coach. In the years since his playing days, he’s stayed active through amateur tournaments.
Feather Jr. is a recent graduate, having completed his Warriors career in 2025. He was a 1,000-point scorer and the Region 2 Senior Athlete of the Year. He initially signed with LRSC but didn’t end up playing for the Royals.
The DBL is gauging interest via a form on its website. It notes that former collegiate players are welcome but that participation may impact future NCAA eligibility.
The launch markets include Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, Minot and Williston, according to the website.
Suri Gourd receives fifth college offer
Incoming Four Winds junior Suri Gourd has now received five college basketball offers this summer.
Gourd announced on Friday that she got an offer from Minnesota State Moorhead after visiting the campus.
Four of Gourd’s offers have come from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North: Moorhead, Minot State University, Minnesota Crookston and the University of Mary. The other came from Black Hills State University in South Dakota. All five are Division-II schools.
Moorhead was in the middle of the pack last year with a 10-12 conference record, which was good for fourth place in the NSIC North, two spots behind Mary and one spot ahead of Minot State.
Gourd enters her junior season having scored 1,649 career points. Her first three full high school seasons were played in Division A, while her upcoming season will be Four Winds’ first in Division B.