NDSU T&F Crowns Five Summit League Champs On Day One of Outdoors

Otterdahl headlines conference champions in Tulsa

TULSA, Okla –(NDSU Athletics) Trevor Otterdahl and Benji Phillips led a dominant showing in the throwing events for the North Dakota State men’s track & field team on the opening day of the Summit League Outdoor Championships.

The Bison men claimed an early lead in the team standings, putting up 40 points on Thursday to outpace second-place South Dakota State at 30.

Otterdahl launched a career-best 225-4 (68.69m) to win the Summit League hammer throw title. He moved up to No. 2 all-time at NDSU, and into the Top 20 in the nation this season.

Phillips defended his conference title in the javelin, winning with a mark of 208-2 (63.46m) in his first meet of the year. NDSU sophomore Matt Kraft took runner-up honors with a throw of 202-11 (61.84m). Freshman Sam Roller threw a personal-best 200-7 (61.13m) for fourth place in his conference meet debut.

NDSU’s Kristoffer Thomsen (197-0 / 60.04m) and Tristan Bush (194-8 / 59.34m) both posted the second-best hammer throw marks of their careers to take fifth and sixth, respectively.

Eric VanErp is the Summit League decathlon leader after Day 1, scoring 3,634 points through five events. VanErp opened the decathlon with a wind-legal personal-best of 11.22 in the 100m dash, and later added an outdoor long jump PR of 22-10 (6.96m) and a career-best shot put of 42-10.75 (13.07m).

The meet will resume Friday at 10 a.m. with the decathlon 110m hurdles. Field events begin at 2 p.m.

 The North Dakota State women’s track & field team claimed first place in all three events contested Thursday at the opening day of the Summit League Outdoor Championships.

Kelby Anderson got things started with an early-morning victory in the 10,000m, Amy Phillips set a meet record to win the hammer throw, and Kari Wolfe captured her third straight javelin title to cap the day.

NDSU scored 55 points in the team standings, establishing a 26-point lead over second-place South Dakota after the first day of competition.

The Bison racked up significant points in the javelin, with three additional placewinners in the top six behind Wolfe’s title. Hayley Schmidt threw a personal-best 147-7 (44.98m) to take third, moving up to eighth on the NDSU all-time list. Freshman Taylor Leingang recorded a personal-best 146-11 (44.79m) to place fourth, ranking 11th all-time at NDSU.

Former NDSU volleyball player Maggie Steffen registered a lifetime-best by more than seven feet in the javelin, hitting 137-11 (42.04m) to place sixth.

Phillips threw a new meet record of 217-6 (66.29m) for first in the hammer. Merrideth Spiers (171-10 / 52.39m) placed sixth, and Amanda Anderson (170-4 / 51.91m) took seventh.

Allie Wahlund took fourth place in the 10,000m, and senior Jen Dufner took eighth.

In the heptathlon, sophomore Nell Graham ran a personal-best 24.26 in the 200m dash to rank ninth-fastest in NDSU outdoor history. She stands in fourth place after Day 1 of the heptathlon, scoring 3,018 points for a new personal-best through four events.