DSU Men’s 4×800 Meter Relay Qualifies for NAIA Nationals

A pair of Dakota State men’s relay teams captured titles Saturday in the Dakota Wesleyan Alumni Invitational.

Roger Oliete Tejedor, Curtis Johnson, Daniel Green, and Evan Slominski teamed up to win the 4×800-meter relay title for the Trojans. They finished with the NAIA ‘B’ provisional qualifying time of 7 minutes, 56.85 seconds in the race, eighth best time in the school record book. 

The second 4×800-meter relay team of Blake Schmiedt, Tucker Murtha, Reese Henrie, and Yohannes Kassa finished fourth with a time of 8:43.84.

Slominski was fifth in the 1000-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 38.54 seconds. Tejedor followed up with a time of 2:41.46 to finish eighth. 

Dakota State placed four weight throwers in the top 10, led by Conner Tordsen with a runner-up honor after tossing 60 feet, 10.75 inches. Jacob Joachim followed up with a personal best mark of 54 feet, 6.5 inches to finish fourth, which is the fifth best in DSU men’s indoor track & field school history.

Jackson Zastera produced a 48 feet, .75 inches to finish sixth for DSU. Zachary Haugen threw 5 feet, 5.25 inches to place tenth.  

Tordsen also placed second in the shot-put event for Dakota State, throwing 49 feet, 11 inches.  Treshawn Roberts was seventh after throwing 43 feet, 5.75 inches, followed by Joachim eighth with 43 feet, 2.5 inches, and Johansen ninth with 42 feet, 6 inches.

T. Roberts finished second in the 60-meter hurdles finals for DSU, registering a time of 8.65 seconds. Issac Jaacks finished third after improving his time of 8.72 seconds. Caleb Roberts was fifth in 9.46 seconds, followed by Emmanuel Drain seventh with a time of 9.56 seconds.

C. Roberts tied his personal record of10 feet, 10 inches in the pole vault. 

Riley Greenhoff improved his time of 7.10 seconds to collect the runner-up honor in the 60-meter dash finals. Willie Hutchins was fourth with a time of 7.15 seconds. Greenhoff also added a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash after registering a time of 51.84 seconds.  Larson was fourth in the race after hitting a time of 52.93 seconds.

Trey Reindl led the Trojans with a third-place finish in 22.75 seconds. Hutchins was eight in 23.46 seconds, followed by Jaacks tenth in 24.20 seconds.

Taylor Myers produced a personal best time of 4 minutes, 33.09 seconds to place third in the 1-mile run for Dakota State. Tyler Kennedy also hit a personal record time of 4:43.31 to place seventh.

Martin Bailey was fourth in the 3000-meter run for the Trojans with a time of 9 minutes, 26.43 seconds.  

Obang Ojulu clocked a personal record time of 1 minute, 28.19 seconds to finish third in the 600-meter run for Dakota State.

Kaleb Scott cleared the high jump of 6 feet, 3.25 inches to place fifth. Nathan Ingalls was third in the triple jump after leaping 40 feet, 4.75 inches and 10th in the long jump of 19 feet, .75 inches.  

Tucker Murtha clocked a personal best time of 2:06.99 in the 800-meter run for DSU. 

The indoor track & field meet wrapped up with the 4×400-meter relay event. The relay team of Hutchins, Ojulu, Krull, and Tejedor captured the title with a time of 3:32.48. Myers, Kennedy, Elkin, and Harr teamed up to place third in 3:51.33.

Dakota State concludes their regular-season schedule this weekend with two different meets.  Most of the team members will be in the two-day South Dakota State Indoor Classic on Friday and next Saturday. The throwing team will head to Yankton, SD next Saturday for the Mount Marty Last Chance meet.