April 26th
The Northern State University track and field teams had a busy weekend in Iowa at the Drake Relays, Kip Janvrin Open and the Grand View Classic.
Distance aces Sasha Hovind (So.) and Dakotah Bullen (So.) highlighted three days of competition for the Wolves, who attended three different track meets in the Des Moines, Iowa, area Thursday through Saturday. The prestigious Drake Relays hosted the Distance Carnival “Under the Lights” on Thursday evening, where Hovind and Bullen each earned a spot in the 10,000m invitational field which included 30 runners from all levels of the NCAA, including several Big 10 athletes. Both earned top ten finishes while destroying the 27 year old school record of 37:11.81 set by Marlene Calmus by nearly two minutes. Hovind and Bullen steadily moved up through the field during the race with Hovind ultimately finishing sixth overall in a school record 35:29.83, with Bullen not far behind in ninth with a 35:38.72 clocking. Those marks currently sit as the 19th and 22nd fastest times in NCAA DII.
The Hovind/Bullen story does not end there. Only 24 hours after their outstanding performances in the 10,000m run, the duo traveled to Indianola, Iowa, to compete in the 5,000m run at the Simpson College Kip Janvrin Open. Both runners went straight to the front forming a small pack of five. With under a mile to go, Hovind found herself slowly pulling away from Creighton’s Maddy Ivy for the outright lead en route to her second school record in 24 hours. Hovind would go on to win by four seconds in a meet record 17:08.73, shattering her own school record set just a week before by 13 seconds. Bullen held on for a third place finish in 17:22.44, which also dipped under the meet record and set a personal best by 15 seconds. Hovind and Bullen are now the fastest two 5,000m and 10,000m runners in Northern State history.
Also competing at the Drake Relays were the women’s 4x100m relay team of Elizabeth Raecke (So.), Toni-Ann Ingram (Fr.), Molly Wynn (So.) and Makenzie Hageman (Jr.), who finished 25th out of 29 qualifying squads in a time of 49.46. Haili Wimer (Fr.) would replace Wynn for the 4x200m relay who came away with a 14th place showing in 1:46.17. The men’s and women’s sprint medley relay teams would finish off the Wolves efforts at the Drake Relays on Saturday. The women’s team of Hageman, Ingram, Raecke and Sami Smith (Jr.) finished 14th out of 21 teams with a time of 4:16.38, while the men’s team of David Parsley (Fr.), Luke Wietgrefe (Fr.), Andrew Johnson (Sr.) and Adam Leach (Fr.) finished 12th of 21 in 3:31.70.
The majority of the Wolves track and field squads competed just down the road from Drake at the Grand View Viking Classic on Friday. Several victories highlighted the team’s success at the ten team meet, with Breann Jackson (Fr.) leading the way in the hammer throw with a lifetime best toss of 52.27m (171’06”) for the victory and her first career national qualifying mark in that event. Jackson now sits 34th in the nation in the hammer throw, which is the outdoor counterpart of the weigh throw. Jackson earned All-American honors in the weight throw this winter at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Joining Jackson in the victory column at Grand View included Haylee Beil (Fr.) in the javelin, who threw a personal best of 38.66m (126’10.25″) by over two feet for the victory, and Smith with a season best 2:18.68 in the 800m run. Nicole Arnold (So.) broke into the victory column at the Kip Janvrin Open, earning first by five seconds out of 18 competitors in a personal best time in the 3,000m steeple chase of 11:27.11.
Gena Burley (So.) tied for the highest clearance in the high jump at Grand View of 1.60m (5’3″) but would finish second by virtue of a jump-off. Other top five finishes included Hageman and Ingram in the 100m dash with times of 12.63 and 12.83 for third and fourth.
Wimer was runner-up in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:06.82. The trio of Autumn Schulz (So.), Mariah Nelson (Sr.) and Amy Wockenfus (So.) finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the weight throw, while Nelson added fourth place finishes in both the shot-put and discus. Trevez Bridgewater (So.) and Michaela Schlecht (So.) finished third and fourth behind Biel in the javelin, while Biel cleared a season best 1.55m (5’1″) for third in the high jump to go along with her javelin title.
The men’s team also landed in the victory column in several events at the Viking Classic, with David Murphy (Fr.) earning his second straight javelin title in two weeks with a toss of 50.22m (164’09”). Johnson is earning consistency in the 100m dash with a 10.77 clocking for the win, while Jake Wiedrich (Fr.) added to the victory column in the pole vault clearing 4.10m (13’05.25″). Zach Feil (So.) earned third place finishes in the high jump, long jump and javelin throw. Leach finished runner-up in the 800m run with a lifetime best clocking of 1:55.71. Till Olson (So.) added a third place finish in the 110m high hurdles in a time of 16.09.
Wolves host the NSIC Heptathlon/Decathlon Championships at Swisher Field on May 3 and 4. NSU’s Dillon Dahl (Jr.) and TJ Hochstetler (Fr.) will compete in the decathlon, and Leandra Schlecht (Sr.) in the heptathlon beginning at 2:00 p.m. May 1.
NSU Sports Information
Track and Field
nsuwolvesathletics.com
Photo courtesy NSU Sports Information
The Exponent 