May 21, 2025

MARION, Ind. – The first day of the 2025 U.S. Marines NAIA Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Championships saw poor weather conditions with cool temperatures, breezy, and rain conditions Wednesday.  The three-day national meet is hosted by Indiana Wesleyan at Wildcat Stadium for the third consecutive year.

Dakota State kicked off the national meet with Tysen Grinde in the decathlon with five different events.  He kicked off the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.53 seconds for 746 points.

Grinde tied his personal record in the long jump, leaping 6.62 meters (21 feet, 8.75 inches) on his final attempt.  He tallied 725 points in the event, posting the fourth best mark in field of 16 decathlon athletes.

The third event of the decathlon was the shot put where Grinde produced a career best 11.42 meters mark (37 feet, 5.5 inches).  He scored 571 points in the shot put.

He cleared the high jump of 1.90 meters (6 feet, 2.75 inches) for 714 points for the Trojans.  He wrapped up with the 400-meter dash with a time of 53 seconds, scoring 682 points.

Grinde finished the first day of the decathlon with 3,438 points, placing him fifth in the standings.  Holden Van Poppel of Siena Heights (Mich.) currently holds the lead with 3,829 points, followed by Justin Krabbenhoft of Eastern Oregon second with 3,786 points, Carson Krack of Carroll third with 3,701 points, and Nigel Steenwinkel of Cumberlands (Ky.) fifth with 3,599 points.

Chantz Minear competed in the 400-meter hurdles semifinals with a time of 53.15 seconds, finishing fourth in the third heat for the Trojans.  He placed ninth overall and missed a spot to advance to the national finals, despite holding a better time than Heat 4 winner Mario Santin of William Carey (Miss.) with a time of 53.16 seconds.

There was a total of four heats in the 400-meter hurdles, with each of the heat winners advancing to the national finals followed by five next best overall times.

Minear missed out the final at-large spot to the national 400-meter hurdles by .09 seconds from Jaheene Bell of Xavier (La.) in 53.06 seconds. 

DSU concluded the first day of the national meet in the 4 x 800-meter relay.  Evan Armstrong kicked off the race with a time of 2 minutes, 5.55 seconds and passed the baton to Mohamed Muse.  Muse finished the second leg with a time of 1:55.88 seconds.

Curtis Johnson ran the third leg with a time of 1:58.92 for the Trojans and concluded with Nolan Slominski who recorded the fourth 800-meters with a time of 1:55.93. 

Dakota State finished 24^th overall with a time of 7 minutes, 56.31 seconds in the 4 x 800-meter relay.

Grinde returns to action on the second day of the national meet in the decathlon, starting at 10 a.m. (Eastern Time)/9 a.m. (Central Time) with the 110-meter hurdles.  He will also compete in the discus, pole vault, javelin, and close with the 1500-meter run.

Minear is also scheduled to run in the 110-meter hurdles semifinals Thursday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. (ET)/1:15 p.m. (CT).