Once again, the North Dakota State Track and Field teams brought home the Summit League Indoor Championships. For the men, it was their sixth of the last ten years. The women have now won 10 straight.
For the Bison, the dominance was showcased in the shot put. Senior Alex Renner defended his Summit League title in the event, throwing 62-05.00 (19.02m). The Bison swept the top three places and finished 1-2-3-5-7-8 to score 31 team points.
Junior Payton Otterdahl captured his first Summit League weight throw title, throwing 60-04.75 (20.54 km). Senior Conrad Schwarzkopf took runner-up with a throw at 65-07.75 (20.01m),Renner placed sixth, junior Jacob McBride was seventh, and junior Steffan Stroh took eighth.
Freshman Tony Ukkelberg came in second in the long jump with a season best of 23-02.75 (7.08m).
Evan Kottsick, Jacob Richter, Matt Jennings and Camron Roehl finished second in the distance medley relay, clocking 10:12.37 to rank ninth in NDSU history.
In the 3,000m, junior Jake Leingang finished third with a time of 8:15.43.
Sophomore Ryan Enerson won his second straight Summit League title in the heptathlon, scoring a personal-best total of 5,103 points to rank fifth in NDSU history. The Bison men finished 1-2-3-5-7 in the heptathlon for 30 team points.
Landon Jochim broke NDSU’s 400m school record for the third time this season on his way to a runner-up finish in the event. He finished with a time of 47.07 and has now cut more than half a second off the previous school record.
NDSU led SDSU by half a point going into the final 4x400m relay, and the Bison secured the team title as they came in second and the Jackrabbits finished third. Jacob Richter, JT Butler, Byrne Curl and Landon Jochim clocked 3:13.50 to rank seventh-fastest in NDSU history. It was the fastest Bison indoor 4×400 in 12 years.
NDSU finished with 192 points as SDSU finished with 189.5 and USD came in third with 123.5 points.
NDSU head coach Don Larson was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
Women
Senior Rose Jackson set the Summit League record and the North Dakota State school record to win the pentathlon. Totaling 4,077 points, breaking All-American Whitney Carlson’s record of 4,015 set back at the 2011 conference meet. Jackson surpassed the previous Summit League meet record of 4,027 set by Sami Spenner of Omaha in 2014.
Bison senior Katelyn Weimerskirch won her third consecutive Summit League championship in the weight throw, throwing 65-00.00 (19.81m) as the NDSU women scored 31 team points as NDSU finished 1-2-3-5-7-8.
Taylor Janssen, Amy Andrushko, Jenny Guibert and Kayla Huhnerkoch won the Summit League distance medley relay title in 11:50.01.
Jackson would also win the long jump a few hours after her pentathlon triumph. Recording the jump at 19-07.50 (5.98m) nearly duplicating her jump that set a new facility record of 19-08.00 (5.99m) during the pentathlon.
Jackson was back at it day two with a winning the 200m dash with a time of 24.21. The time was second all-time at NDSU. She also finished third in the 60m with a time of 7.62, third best in NDSU history.
Senior Morgan Milbrath ran a school-record and meet-record 53.58 to capture the 400m dash title. She then came back later with a lifetime-best 24.28 in the 200m dash for a runner-up finish behind Jackson and the No. 4 spot in the NDSU record books.
Janssen won the mile in a career-best time of 4:53.94. Andrushko defended her Summit League crown in the 800m, winning in 2:08.74 to break the meet record.
Alexis Woods, Milbrath, Jackson and Andrushko put the stamp on the meet with a victory in the 4x400m relay, posting a time of 3:44.22.
NDSU finished the meet with 226 points as USD and SDSU came in second and third with 206.5 and 128 points.
With the win, the Bison women make it 10 consecutive indoor conference titles. Including the outdoor season, NDSU has won 19 straight Summit League crowns.