Trojans Lead NSAA Championships After Second Day

Dakota State, who is vying for their fourth consecutive men’s outdoor track & field team title, captured three titles and piled up 112 points after the second day of the 2023 NSAA Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Dickinson State is second with 97 points, Viterbo third with 54 points, and Waldorf fourth with 48 points. Valley City State is fifth with 20 points, while Iowa Wesleyan is sixth with six points. Bellevue have not yet scored in the conference meet.

Caleb Roberts and Caden Gortmaker continued their action in the decathlon on the second day of the conference meet. Roberts kicked off with 16.87 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles for 638 points. Gortmaker clocked a time of 18.63 seconds for 465 points.

Roberts led the Trojans in the discus throw with a career best84 feet, 4 inches toss for 381 points, followed by Gortmaker with 66 feet, 4 inches toss for 276 points.

Gortmaker claimed the top mark in the pole vault for the Trojans, clearing 3.30 meters (tied personal record) for 431 points. Roberts cleared the pole vault with a mark of 2.80 meters for 309 points.

Gortmaker threw 34.20 meters in the javelin throw for 359 points. Roberts followed up with a personal record of 32.19 meters toss for 330 points.

Gortmaker produced the top time in the final event of the decathlon, clocking a personal best time of 4 minutes, 36.66 seconds to score 701 points. Roberts finished with a personal best time of 5 minutes, 11.87 points for 493 points.

Both Roberts and Gortmaker posted personal record decathlon points for Dakota State. Roberts finished fourth with 5,006 points (sixth most points in school history) while Gortmaker was fifth with 5,003 points (seventh most points scored in school history). 

Gortmaker and Roberts later competed in the pole vault individual event of the NSAA conference meet.  Both finished in a two-way tie for fifth after clearing the height of 10 feet.

Dakota State dominated the hammer throw event, racking up with 21 points. Conner Tordsen led the Trojans with the conference meet record and NAIA ‘A’ automatic qualifying mark of 197 feet, 2 inches to claim his third straight conference hammer throw title. Jacob Joachim placed fourth with a toss of 168 feet, 3 inches, followed by Zachary Haugen with a sixth-place finish after throwing a career best 155 feet, 7 inches.

Jackson Zastera was seventh in the hammer throw, registering a personal best toss of 151 feet, 6 inches. Houston Lunde was eighth with a 142 feet mark, while Dylan Johansen hit 124 feet, 7 inches for an 11th-place finish.

The Trojans added 16 points in the javelin throw event, led by Ben Hoverson with a third-place finish after producing a mark of 147 feet, 7 inches. Tordsen followed up with a fourth-place finish after throwing a career best 143 feet, 7 inches and Jakob Kaiser with a career best 142 feet, 2 inches to place fifth. 

Joachim was eighth in the javelin throw with a mark of 133 feet, 7 inches for DSU. Ethan Damerum placed 11th with122 feet, 2 inches, followed by Xander Sheehan with 33.72 meters 110 feet, 7 inches for 13th-place finish.

Hoverson earned a runner-up honor in the triple jump for DSU, leaping 43 feet, 3.25 inches.  Nathan Ingalls added a fourth-place finish after recording a career best triple jump mark of 42 feet, 8.75 inches.

Dakota State won their third straight conference outdoor 4×800-meter relay title. The team of Daniel Green, Dylan Hilger, Blake Schmiedt, and Cody Farland produced a time of 8 minutes, 24.78 seconds to win the race.

Taylor Myers captured his second straight NSAA’s 10,000-meter run title for the Trojans, where they scored 21 points in the event. He finished with a time of 32 minutes, 57.21 seconds in the race. Martin Bailey was third after registering a time of 33 minutes, 40.16 seconds. Tyler Kennedy followed up with a time of 33 minutes, 52.33 seconds to finish fourth. Jacob Dundas was 10th after recording a time of 41 minutes, 35.94 seconds.

Trey Reindl was third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.20 seconds. Steven Greigg placed eighth after clocking a personal record time of 50.98 seconds. Joseph Larson recorded a time of 52.16 seconds to finish 12th, followed by Obang Ojulu 14th in 53.02 seconds, and Isaac Jaacks 15th in 53.48 seconds.

Jaacks led the Trojans with a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.98 seconds.  Ojulu was sixth after recording a time of 16.58 seconds.

The 2023 NSAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships wrap up this afternoon with numerous final events. The first events are set for 11am.