NDSU finish second behind the Big Ten Cornhuskers
It was a beautiful day for a track meet on Saturday, as both of NDSU’s men’s and women’s teams competed in Lincoln, Nebraska. Last year’s Husker Spring Invitational was cancelled due to weather, so the warmth was more than welcome.
Many members of the Herd were able to make themselves stand out. For starters, thrower Akealy Moton obliterated the school record in the shot put. Moton surpassed Courtney Pasiowitz’s record by well over 2 feet. The 56-08.75 throw moved Moton to No. 3 in the nation this season and easily won the event.
Kristoffer Thomsen found similar success on the men’s side, winning the shot put event with a 62-11.25 throw, which moved him to No. 14 on the NCAA performance list this year.
Payton Otterdahl, a national champion, extended the program’s discus record for the third consecutive meet. Otterdahl’s 206-6 throw won the event and moved up to second in the nation this season.
Amanda Anderson also won the discus on the women’s side with a personal-best of 177-11.
The Herd was also able to dominate in the javelin, as Brendan Artley and Benji Phillips finished first and second, with Ty Ogren coming in fourth with a career best throw of 194-10.
In the women’s javelin, No. 15-ranked Kari Wolfe finished second with a throw of 169-5, the second best of her career. Clearly the Bison throwers were not to be trifled with Saturday.
On the triple jump side of things, Bailey DeMar won the event for the women, and Kelle’Mon Hinton set a personal best with a 49-10.00 jump, good enough for third for the men. Hinton was also able to finish third in the long jump.
Klara Lyon cleared a height of 13-00.25 in the pole vault, an outdoor personal best that placed her second in the meet. Noah Shafer also set a new personal best, clearing a height of 16-02.00, good enough for third in the men’s pole vault.
The runners were also able to find success on Saturday. The Bison men nearly swept the podium in the 400-meter hurdles, as Connor Wendel led a Bison 1-3-4 with teammates Josh Knutson and Ryan Enerson following.
Paige Harris, a junior from Plentywood, Montana, ran a personal best 56.43 in the 400-meter dash, which was good enough for second in the event. Jacob Richter also ran a personal best on the men’s side. Richter’s 47.90 run was good enough for fourth in the 400m, just edging out Nebraska’s Bryce Barrett by .02.
Senior J.T. Butler finished second in the 200-meter dash, with a career best 20.94 run, finishing just .01 behind event-winner Mason Hericks.
Despite all the new personal bests, both the men and women finished second in the team totals. The men finished 103 points back from Nebraska, with the women coming in 41 points behind the Husker women.
Next up, the men and women will both head to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Spring Open April 12 and 13.