by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
Ricardo Chase is a freshman Cross Country runner at NCAA DII Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He ran his first race of the fall season at the Men’s Maroon 8k at the Roy Griak in Minneapolis on September 28, 2019. He placed 149th out of 309 runners in 28:53.0.
“Didn’t finish how I wanted but it was my first race with rolling hills,” said Ricardo. “It was a fun experience but it wasn’t how I wanted it to go. It was my first race transitioning from 5k to 8k but I’ll learn from it and become better.”
Ricardo is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) from New Town, ND and the Fort Berthold Reservation. His dad is TAT enrolled/Fort Peck raised from Poplar, MT and stepmom is TAT from New Town, ND. He is a recent veteran of the elite North Dakota Cross Country and Track programs at New Town High School.
The Fort Berthold Reservation includes the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes, and includes the towns of New Town, Twin Buttes, Mandaree, Parshall and White Shield.
The same strengths of an elite high school runner are transitioning to the college ranks.
“I bring loyalty and hard work,” said Ricardo. “I’ll always give it my all in practice and during races.”
Brother Jalen Chase is a sophomore at Northern State University and also competes on the Cross Country team. “It means a lot coming from an Indian Reservation, and not many Natives get the opportunity to compete at the level me and my brother are so it’s really a great opportunity,” said Ricardo. “I give all thanks to our parents for pushing and guiding us.”
“My goal is graduating college with a degree in Sports Marketing and using it to get a job in the sports management field,” said Ricardo. “Running will help me through this journey by keeping me motivated to stay on top of everything education-wise so I can compete at the college level.”
“My older brother Jalen helped push me to my limits and continues to help me pursue my goals,” said Ricardo. “Next are my parents, who are both hard workers and continue to show me and my siblings what hard work brings and by not giving up. They are always helpful when it comes to running, education, and my long-term goals. They are also very influential by taking my siblings and I to see the outside world instead of using the money they work hard for on themselves.”
Ricardo was a major part of the New Town High School elite runners program: 6x XC state championship teams and 2x track & field championship teams. He placed 25th at the State XC Meet as a sophomore, 15th as a junior, and 6th as a senior. During senior year he was on the 4x800m relay State Championship team including Phoenix White, Addison Red Fox, and Jaiven Hale in a time of 8:08.42.
“Ricardo was really fun to be part of his everyday life for the Cross Country and Track seasons,” said Jay Hale, assistant coach at New Town HS. “He was always consistent. He always showed up every day for practice. Rico (is what I called him) was never able to compete at the State XC meet until he was a sophomore but it wasn’t because he wasn’t good enough. It was basically because we had so much depth. Our second five would of won state a couple of years. If Rico would’ve been on any other team he would of been one of their top guys, if not their best guy. He never complained or sulked because he couldn’t compete until his sophomore year. He just kept battling.”
After two cancelled meets on October 11 and 12, all roads are leading to the NSIC Championships at Wayne, Nebraska on October 26, 2019.
“My goal is to be a big impact for the team, running a better time, aiming for 26 or 27 minutes in this Saturday’s NSIC Meet,” said Ricardo. “I’m going to do way better with all the training and extra running work I’ve been putting in after the Roy Griak.
“My future college running goals is to put up some outstanding times. I’m studying sports management and my transition from high school to college is a big change in a good way and everything I’m experiencing at the moment is amazing. Being a student athlete has a lot of responsibilities, waking up early to run, getting the right amount of food in the body, focusing on multiple classes, making sure you get sleep, all of these are big for college athletes and I’m making sure I’m on top of everything,” added Ricardo.
Photographs provided by Ricardo Chase.
