Roberts and Tordsen Earn NAIA All-American Honors at National Championships

Three Dakota State athletes were in action Friday on the second day of the 2023 NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Championships, with two earning NAIA All-American Honors.  

Treshawn Roberts was second after the first day of the heptathlon action Thursday. He opened with the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.40 seconds, collecting 884 points and remained second in the heptathlon standings.

Pole vault was next in action for the heptathlon. Roberts produced a personal record pole vault of 14 feet, 3.25 inches on his first attempt. He improved his personal record of 14 feet, 7.25 inches to claim the top pole vault mark for 746 points.

He could not convert the opportunity to clear the 14 feet, 11 inches, which would have set the DSU’s pole vault record (Justin Schmidt holds the school record of 4.52 meters – 14 feet, 10 inches in 2003).

Roberts finished with a time of 3 minutes, 1.79 seconds in the final event of the heptathlon, the 1000-meter run. He gained 647 points.

Roberts earned the runner-up honor for the Trojans with a new school record of 5,174 points. He broke the previous record of 5,121 points in the NSAA Indoor Track & Field Championships (which is also the conference meet record).

It was the second straight year that Roberts had collected the NAIA All-America heptathlon awards at Dakota State. In addition, it was his third NAIA All-America multi-event during his stellar career at DSU (decathlon during the 2022 outdoor national meet).

Dakota State had two weight throwers in the semifinals. Jacob Joachim competed in his first NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships appearance. He tossed a personal record of 56 feet, 3.25 inches on his second toss in the first flight. He fouled on his first and third attempts, finishing 14th overall in the field of 37 throwers.

Conner Tordsen competed in the third flight for DSU. He tossed 59 feet, 1.5 inches on his first toss and was fouled on his second attempt. He recorded his best toss of 61 feet, 2.75 inches on his third attempt and advanced to the final round.

Tordsen hit 59 feet, 11 inches on his fourth attempt, followed by a foul attempt on his fifth attempt. He concluded the weight throw competition with a toss of 59 feet, 4 inches.

Tordsen became the first Dakota State men’s weight thrower to become NAIA All-America after placing sixth overall. It was also his second career NAIA All-America status during his astounding career at DSU (hammer throw in 2022 outdoor track & field national meet).

Dakota State tallied up 11 points after the second day of the national meet, tying with Mount Marty for sixth place in the team standings after six events scored. Doane leads the team standings with 21 points.

Tordsen will wrap up his indoor track & field career Saturday afternoon as he competes in the shot-put at 2pm. 

The NAIA Championships Ceremony is slated to start at 12pm Saturday.

Live results from the meet can be found here.