Women and men combine for eleven titles

The North Dakota State University track & field teams performed well this weekend prior to the Summit League Indoor Championships which will be held next weekend. The men, led by Trevor Otterdahl’s wins in both throwing events, captured five events and the women, led by Salmata Korgho’s personal best in the 60m hurdles, won six events.

The teams participated in the University of North Dakota Tune-Up, held at the Frederick “Fritz” D. Pollard Jr. Athletic Center in Grand Forks. The event was literally that, a tune-up prior to the Summit League Indoor Championships to be held at the same facilities on Feb. 25 & 26.

Otterdahl, a junior from Rosemount, Minn., won both the shot put and weight throw at the event. Otterdahl’s toss of 62-09.25 (19.13m) in the shot put was a career-best. The toss also moves him into 6th place in NDSU indoor history and he is now in the NCAA’s Top 30 in the event. In the weight throw, Otterdahl’s toss of 71-10 (21.89m) in the weight throw keeps him at No. 9 in the NCAA.

The women, who won six events, were led by Salmata Korgho’s run of 8.60 seconds in the 60m hurdles, a personal best. Korgho, a redshirt freshman from Fargo, is now fifth on the school’s all-time list. Also winning a sprint event for the Bison was freshman Christiana Collins, who ran a 7.74 in the 60m dash.

In the long-distance events, Allie Wahlund and Onnica Stansbury won the mile and 3,000m runs, respectively. Both freshman, Wahlund clocked a 5:13.36 in the mile and Stansbury won the 3,000m with a time of 10:38.31.

The women also captured both throwing events for NDSU. Amanda Anderson and Amy Phillips won the shot put and weight throw respectively. Anderson threw the shot a distance of 47-11.75 (14.62m) for her win and Phillips tossed the weight throw a distance of 65-04.00 (19.91m) to claim that event for the Herd.

Claiming the other victories for the men were senior Noah Schafer who grabbed the pole vault event with a vault of 16-02.50 (4.94m), a career-best, freshman Robert Douglas, who won the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.43 and freshman Henry Collins earned first place in the 200m dash with a 22.45.

Both teams looked primed as other athletes from both squads set personal bests as well. Both men’s and women’s teams will be in Grand Forks next week for the indoor championships.