Byron's Ben Adamsonhas once again qualified for the largest amateur motocross race in the world.
The 17-year-old dirt-bike racer has earned a spot in the 35th Annual Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships. The race is Aug. 1-6 and will be held in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., at historic Loretta Lynn Ranch.
Adamson was one of just 1,482 qualifiers out of more than 22,000 riders from across the country trying to secure a position in the race during events over the past four months.
Adamson, who attends Byron High School, has been riding since he was 3 years old. He has won several races in his 14 years of racing and rides nearly every weekend at Kellogg Motocross Track and Spring Creek National Motocross Park in Millville. He recently participated in the Donny Schmidt Memorial Amateur Race during the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship race week at Spring Creek. He placed first in the Open B Class, 14–24 B Class and second in 250 B Class.
This is Adamson's fifth time qualifying for the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships. It also represents a nice comeback. He was unable to race last year due to tearing his ACL and meniscus while wrestling for Byron. He spent nine months of rehab getting ready for the dirt-bike season this spring.
ADVERTISEMENT
In Tennessee, he will be racing his 250 Yamaha dirt bike against the top 42 riders in the nation in the highly competitive College Boy and 250 B Limited classes.
The racing action will be broadcast live daily at www.RacerTV.com from Aug. 1-6 for a total of 40 hours of live coverage. In addition, two highlight shows featuring the event will air on NBC Sports Network in the fall.
———
Leif Bungum, who will be a senior at Triton this fall, has given a verbal commitment to play college football at the University of North Dakota.
UND is a Division I program that plays in the Big Sky Conference. The Fighting Hawks were 7-4 in 2015, including 5-3 in league play.
As a junior, Bungum played running back and safety at Triton under coach Don Henderson. He is projected as an outside linebacker in college.
Bungum is rated the No. 27 prospect in Minnesota by the recruiting website GopherHole.com. Bungum is a three-sport athlete as he also plays basketball and competes in track and field at Triton.
———
ADVERTISEMENT
Chatfield native Adam Fryehas been named head men's and women's cross country and track and field coach at Pacific Lutheran University, an NCAA Division III school in Tacoma, Wash.
Frye became the head coach at Pacific Lutheran after spending the previous year as the head girls cross country coach at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, Wash. He was also the assistant coach for Sammamish's boys and girls track and field programs.
Prior to his job at Sammamish, Frye served two stints at Hamline University in St. Paul with the cross country and track and field programs. He was an assistant from 2007 to 2009 before returning from 2012-2015 as co-head coach for both the men's and women's cross country programs. Between stints at Hamline, Frye was an assistant from 2009-2012 at his Alma mater Luther College.
"I'm honored and delighted to lead the cross country and track & field programs at Pacific Lutheran University," Frye said in a release. "I look forward to joining the Lute family and working with a terrific group of student-athletes and colleagues."
———
John Gathje, formerly of Rochester, was named cross country Coach of the Year for the state of Nebraska this week by the Nebraska Coaches Association.
He coaches at Mount Michael High School in Elkhorn, Neb. Gathje guided the school to a state championship during the 2015 fall season. It was his sixth state title at the school. He had led Mount Michael to three straight championships in 1995-97.
Gathje is a 1981 Lourdes grad. While at Lourdes he won several state titles in both cross country and track and field.
