Trojan Mens Win NSAA Indoor Track & Field Championship

In the NSAA Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championships, Dakota State claimed their second consecutive team title, and won it for the fourth time in five years.

Dakota State never trailed in the entire meet, racking up the North Star conference indoor track & field conference meet record of 254 points. 

Dickinson State was second with 140 points. Viterbo edged out Waldorf 82-73 to finish third in the team standings. Bellevue placed fifth with 57 points, followed by Iowa Wesleyan sixth with 41 points and Valley City State seventh with 31 points.

Conner Tordsen kicked off the day by shattering the North Star conference meet record in the weight throw on his last attempt. He tossed 61 feet, 11 inches to claim his third consecutive NSAA weight throw title. He broke the previous conference meet record of 58 feet, 3 inches in the 2022 conference meet.

The Trojans dominated the weight throw event with four more throwers placing in the top ten. Jacob Joachim was third with a personal record toss of 54 feet, 7.5 inches, finishing third. Houston Lunde was sixth with 48 feet, 10 inches, followed by Jackson Zastera seventh with 48 feet, 5.25 inches. Zachary Haugenposted a toss of 44 feet, 2.75 inches to finish ninth. Trenton Moran was 14th with 38 feet, .25 inches weight throw toss.

Treshawn Roberts produced a personal record mark after winning the pole vault title.  He cleared the height of 14 feet, 1.25 inches.

Caleb Roberts added a third-place finish in the pole vault with a 10 feet, 10 inches mark.  Caden Gortmaker placed fourth with a personal record mark of 10 feet, 10 inches.

T. Roberts finished fourth in the long jump, leaping 21 feet, 6.25 inches for the Trojans.  Nathan Ingalls added 19 feet, 5.25 inches to place 11th, followed by Chase Marshall with a 12th-place finish with 18 feet, 1.5 inches.

Ingalls posted a personal record triple jump of 41 feet, 2.25 inches to finish fifth for DSU. 

The first running events saw four Dakota State athletes placing in the top five of the 5000-meter run. Taylor Myers won the individual time after clocking a time of 15 minutes, 46.26 seconds. Colter Elkin followed up with a runner-up finish in 16 minutes, .93 seconds.  Marin Bailey was fourth with a time of 16:17.57, followed by Tyler Kennedy with a fifth-place finish in 16:18.26.

DSU’s 4×800-meter relay team, consisting of Blake Schmiedt, Tucker Murtha, Curtis Johnson, and Roger Oliete Tejedor, finished with a time of 8:12.57 to place second.

T. Roberts continued his busy day as he was the top 60-meter hurdles prelims with a personal record and NAIA ‘B’ provisional qualifying time of 8.32 seconds. His time is the second fastest in the school’s 60-meter hurdles history. Isaac Jaacks added a sixth-place finish with a time of 8.87 seconds, while C. Roberts was eighth in 9.27 seconds. Emmanuel Drain produced a personal record time of 9.43 seconds to finish 11th in the prelims.

Three DSU athletes competed in the 60-meter hurdles finals, led by T. Roberts with a runner-up finish in an exciting race. He finished with an identical time in the prelims of 8.32 seconds. Jaacks added a fifth-place finish in 8.99 seconds, followed by C. Roberts with a seventh place finish in 9.43 seconds.

Riley Greenhoff led the Trojans with a personal record time of 7.06 seconds to finish third in the 60-meter dash prelims. Willie Hutchins hit a time of 7.16 seconds for the sixth fastest time in the prelims. Kaleb Scott was 12th in 7.34 seconds, followed by Joseph Larson 13th in 7.39 seconds.  Marshall finished with a time of 7.82 seconds.

Greenhoff earned another personal record in the 60-meter dash finals, hitting 7.02 seconds to finish third for Dakota State. Hutchins added a time of 7.13 seconds to finish fifth.

Tejedor led DSU with a runner-up honor with a personal record time of 1 minute, 23.67 seconds in the 600-meter run. Joshua Krull was fourth with a season-best time of 1:24.17. Steven Greigg, who was named to the NSAA Men’s Indoor Track & Field Champions of Character recipient, followed up with a fifth-place finish with a personal record time of 1:24.77. Gortmaker was 10th after hitting a time of 1:29.87.  Obang Ojulu was 12th in 1:30.56.

The Trojans had four runners placed in the top ten of the 1-mile run. Evan Slominski paced with a time of 4 minutes, 32.70 seconds to finish third, followed by Johnson with a time of 4:34.58 to place fourth. Daniel Green was sixth with a time of 4:40.35, while Schmiedt was ninth in 4:47.42. Lucas Harr finished the race in 5:19.21, followed by Jacob Dundas in 5:29.30.

Dakota State also had four throwers placing in the top ten shot-put event. Tordsen led with a runner-up honor with a personal record, gaining the NAIA ‘A’ automatic qualifying mark of 51 feet, 8.5 inches. His shot-put toss places him as the second best mark in school history.

T. Roberts was sixth in the shot-put with 46 feet, 2.75 inches for DSU. Zastera was eighth with a personal best mark of 42 feet, 2.75 inches, followed by Lunde with a 10th place finish with a 39 feet, 9.25 inches toss. 

Trey Reindl led the Trojans with a season-best time of 49.87 seconds for a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash. Greenhoff followed up with a fourth-place finish in 50.64 seconds. Larson was eighth with a time of 52.15 seconds. Jaacks recorded a time of 52.25 seconds to finish 10th, followed by Ojulu with a 13th-place finish in 53.01 seconds. Drain finished with a time of 55.38 seconds.

Four Dakota State runners placed in the top eight of the 800-meter run, led by Slominski with a runner-up honor in 2:01.68. Tejedor followed up with a third-place finish in 2:01.70 and Green fourth in 2:04.12. Murtha finished seventh with a time of 2:06.89.  Yohannes Kassa produced a personal best time of 2:07.83 to finish 10th. Krull finished with a time of 2:13.37.

Greenhoff hit a season-best time of 22.24 seconds to place third in the 200-meter dash for Dakota State. Reindl was sixth in 22.49 seconds. Hutchins recorded a time of 23.05 seconds to finish 11th, followed by Larson with a time of 23.40 seconds (13th-place).

DSU had four runners placed in the top 10 of the 3000-meter run, led by Myers with a runner-up honor with a time of 9:13.60. Elkin was third with a time of 9:16.47. Bailey was sixth in 9:25.20, followed by Johnson with a seventh-place finish with a personal record time of 9:25.50.  Kennedy was ninth in 9:28.24. Reese Henrie finished with a time of 10:01.54 for a 15th-place finish.

Greenhoff, Jaacks, Slominski, and Reindl teamed up the Trojan men’s 4×400-meter relay in the final event of the day. They finished third with a time of 3 minutes, 28.32 seconds.

T. Roberts was named to the NSAA Men’s Indoor Field Athlete-of-the-Meet after collecting a total of 32 points in the field events in the conference meet. He was also voted by the league head coaches as the conference’s Most Valuable Athlete.

Head coach Anthony Drealan was voted as the Coach-of-the-Year for the second straight year, his fourth time in the last five years at Dakota State.

DSU is set to send Treshawn Roberts, Conner Tordsen, Jacob Joachim, and members of the 4×800-meter relay team (Roger Oliete Tejedor, Curtis Johnson, Daniel Green, and Evan Slominski) to the 2023 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships on March 2-4 at SJAC in Brookings.