This past weekend the Bison teams opened up their outdoor season in San Antonio, Texas, at the UTSA Invitational for a two-day meet hosted by the University of Texas San Antonio.
On Friday, the women took multiple titles. In the javelin, the women finished first, second, and third. Freshman, Camille Deringer placed third (129’6”), Taylor Leingang in second (135’6”), and winning the event was Alex Seagris with a mark of 148’9”. Meredith Spiers opened up the outdoor season by placing fifth in the hammer throw and shot put. Both events she threw personal best, 182’9” in the hammer throw and 46’11 ¾” for shot put. For the men, Cam Landis continues his success this season by winning the shot put with a throw of 58’. Freshman Jack Packer also took third with a mark of 52’ 8 ¾”. Winning javelin, Matt Kraft, who is a Returning NCAA Championships qualifier, opened his season by throwing a 219’2”.
On Saturday, Kendra Kelley ran the 200m the fastest a Bison woman ever has, breaking a record from 2014. She ran a time of 23.19 which also won the event. Kelley went on to win the 100m dash with a time of 11.42 which is also a new personal record. The women also continued their success in the jumps. Arienne Birch won the high jump clearing 5’9” which now puts her in the NDSU Outdoor Top Ten All-Time list. Joy Nnantah also jumped 39’3 ¾” to win the triple jump title. Persisting, Julia Gherardi cleared 12’ 5 ½” to take first in the pole vault. In the long jump, Makenna Vollmer placed second with a jump of 18’5 ¼”. On the men’s side, Sophomore Jarod White tied the NDSU outdoor pole vault record. He cleared 17’2 ¾” to win the event and open up his outdoor season after previously breaking the NDSU indoor record this past indoor season. On the track, the men swept the first three places in the 400m. Isaac Huntington won with a time of 48.59, in second place was Cullen Curl (48.77), and finishing third was Gabe Miles (48.82).
Next week, the teams will travel to Texas again to compete in the Texas Relays Meet hosted by the University of Texas down in Austin. The meet will start Wednesday, March 27, and will go through Saturday, March 30.