Sports Spotlight: Jeran McNichols

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The 2024 Howard Wood Relays were special for Bismarck High senior Jeran McNichols. He set a meet record in the 100-meter dash at 10.45 seconds, and he finished first in the 200-meter— some great accomplishments. But it seemingly wasn’t enough for the future NDSU Bison.

“Broke a couple meet records down there. I was pretty close to our state record in the 100. Honestly, a little sad I didn’t get that. I still got time left in my season to chip away and hopefully accomplish that by the end of my senior year. It just makes me want to work harder every time I do something like that because it makes me want to keep chasing and keep stacking records,” said McNichols.

The phrase “hard work pays off” is a bit of a cliché, but in McNichols’ case, it certainly rings true.

“Pretty tremendous growth. He started off as a freshman, like any other freshman, but as a sophomore, he really came around. He qualified for state in the 300 hurdles and the 110 hurdles, and was just kind of a mid-level qualifier. And at the state meet he ran 40 point in the 300 hurdles and made the finals and placed. And we kind of knew we had something special there,” said Jeremy Schroeder, BHS Boys Track Head Coach.

“I’ve been working with Schroeder since November to set myself up for success this season. If you want to be great at things, you can’t just do them while you’re in the season of the sport, you need to be working year-round like I have,” said McNichols.

“Starting way back in November, he approached me and said ‘Can we start a speed club, can we start working on speed?’ and I said ‘Of course we can do that.’ And he’s been very very dedicated,” said Schroeder.

That speed training paid off: McNichols’ 10.45 is the second-best 100-meter time in state history, behind only Weston Dressler’s 10.44, yet McNichols has also blossomed into a leader for Demon Track.

“Well, he’s always first in sprints. He’s always pushing people, telling people to come run with him. He wants that pressure too. If he’s going out there training by himself, it’s a lot harder to get better than if you’re with someone else,” said Preston Lemar, a BHS senior.

“In track, it’s a big team sport, you need the whole team to like each other. Want to compete against each other in practice if you want to be good and have a shot at that state championship,” said McNichols.

The West Region meet is on Friday.

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