Men’s Track and Field Shine Nationwide to Kick Off Outdoor Track Season

As Fargo gets over a foot of snow dumped on it, NDSU started its outdoor season on track. The men’s track team got split up into four different meets this past weekend. Many of the throwers went to Texas State in San Marcos, Texas. Runners either went to Stanford, San Francisco, or LSU.

In Texas, Bison throwers had a successful meet. Senior Kaden Pastian would have a career day. He placed sixth in the discus with a mark of 51.97 meters, took fifth in the hammer throw with a personal best of 62.46 meters, and second in the men’s shot put with a toss of 17.87 meters. A strong start for the season for Pastian.

Aiden Krause also recorded strong numbers in Texas. He finished top 15 in the discus with a 47.75 mark, a top 10 finish in shot put with a toss of 15.75 meters, and the rising sophomore had a weekend for himself.

For amazing single marks, Logan Arason, the Red River product, posted a 48.15-meter mark from discus and a 51.80-meter hammer throw. Javelin had a field day with sophomore Zach Lilly, freshman Daniel Severud, freshman Ryder Bickett, and Isaac Friese all finishing in the top 10 with marks of 62.42 meters (Lilly), 58.53 meters (Severud), 57.45 (Bickett), and 55.19 (Friese).

At Stanford, many of the distance runners got shipped off to California. Junior Ethan Moe would get his season started off hot. In his section in the 800 meters, he would place second with a time of 1:49:19 and place second again in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:43.96. Building off a strong sophomore year.

Other notable results for the men in California consisted of freshman Carl Rekow in the 1500m with an insane time of 3:46.00 to place second in his section. Junior Quinn Roehl would place third in his section of the 1500 with a time slot of 3:46.67, and lastly, sophomore Kaleb Foltz would run a 1:47.82 in the 800.

The other meet that happened on Friday was the Mike Fanelli Track Classic. In the 800-meter final, Carl Rekow, Quinn Roehl and Jonah Dafoe would all place in the top 30, with Rekow finishing in the top 15 with a time of 1:51.90.

Cross country standouts Jacob Knodle and Ivan Askim placed in the men’s 5000 meters to get their season started, also.

Many of the sprinters went down to Baton Rouge for the Battle on the Bayou at Louisiana State University. NDSU put a bulk of their heavy hitters in this meet.

Starting in the 110-meter hurdles, the Bison would have five runners place in the top 20. Freshman Joshua Kyei-Baffour would place tenth, and then sophomore Brooks Turner, freshman Trey Knoke and another freshman, Chris Hilton, would place within the top 20. Kyei-Baffour would log 14.07 on the watches and impress many of the spectators. In this meet, they would contend with Big10 teams, SEC teams, and Big12 teams.

NDSU put on a performance in the long jump, pole vault, and triple jump. Freshman Carter Reckelberg would jump into the top 10 with a jump of 7.49 meters, and sophomore Reece Grosserode would place twelfth with a jump of 7.01 meters. Reckelberg was very impressive.

In the pole vault, NDSU had three pole vaulters place in the top 11. Sophomore Aaron Cummings would vault 5.30 meters and place fourth. A top-five finish. Jared White would fault five meters to take ninth, and freshman Owen Angell would also vault five meters to take eleventh.

Rising star sophomore Reece Gosserode would jump an insane 15.62 meters, the tenth-best jump in Division One this year and a top-three finish at LSU. Junior Carlton Mukurazita and another standout freshman, Carter Reckelberg, would round out the top eleven with scores of 15.02 meters (Mukurazita) and 14.65 meters (Reckelberg).

The next meets for NDSU will be the Bryan Clay Multis in Azusa, California, on April 9 and the NDSU Spring Classic on April 10, if it’s not cancelled due to the weather.