May 8, 2025

DICKINSON, N.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) collected two event titles on the first day of the 2025 North Star Athletic Association Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday.  The two-day conference meet, which marks the end of the era of the NSAA conference, is held at Dickinson State (S.D.) Badlands Activity Center and Roger Huffman Field, with DiSU serving as the host site at Biesiot Activities Center.

Despite the early lead by the Trojans, Dickinson State scored numerous points from the field events Thursday to overtake the lead.  The Blue Hawks lead the NSAA men's outdoor track & field standings with 141 points, followed by the Trojans second with 115 points.  Valley City State (N.D.) is third with 36 points, while Jamestown (N.D.) is fourth with 34 points, and Bellevue (Neb.) fifth with 18 points.

The conference meet kicked off in the morning session with the 10,000-meter run.  It was originally scheduled to run at the last running event of the day Thursday afternoon but was moved to accommodate better weather conditions.

The Trojans collected 17 points in the 10,000-meter run, led by Caleb Sayler with the runner up honor with a time of 34 minutes, 22.59 seconds.  Benjamin Struck was fourth in 34 minutes, 57.35 seconds.  Joshua Tucker finished sixth with a time of 35 minutes, 52.38 seconds, followed by David Brock with an eighth-place finish in 39:45.97.

The action returned in the afternoon session with the javelin, highlighted by Xander Sheehan with a personal record mark.  He finished third with 53.81 meters (176 feet, 6 inches).  His javelin mark is the seventh farthest mark in DSU men's javelin school history, surpassing Mike O'Connell mark of 53.74 meters (176 feet, 4 inches) in 1990.

Tysen Grinde was sixth with a personal record 48.53 meters (159 feet, 2 inches) in the javelin for DSU.  Bergen Irey also produced a personal record 38.44 meters (126 feet, 1 inch).  Houston Lunde added a career best 36.65 meters (120 feet, 3 inches).

Brock Krueger led Dakota State's triple jump with a personal record leap of 12.67 meters (41 feet, 7 inches).  He finished eighth in the event.  Grinde followed up with 12.60 meters mark (41 feet, 4.25 inches) for a ninth-place finish.

Luke Borowicz led the Trojans with a sixth-place finish in the hammer throw, throwing a career best mark of 49.32 meters (161 feet, 9 inches).  Jack Hemmen added a personal record 47.11 meters toss (154 feet, 6 inches) to finish seventh, followed by Lunde with an eighth-place finish with a career best 45.99 meters throw (150 feet, 10 inches).  Tarin Bingham threw 40.68 meters (133 feet, 5 inches).

Samuel Olson cleared the height of 3.75 meters (12 feet, 3.5 inches) to place seventh in the pole vault for Dakota State.  Bergen Irey recorded 3.45 meters (11 feet, 3.75 inches) clearance to finish eighth.

DSU's Chantz Minear added his second NSAA individual title (his first NSAA individual title was the decathlon last month in Valley City, N.D.).  He kicked off Thursday's afternoon running session by winning the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.60 seconds.  Aaron Van Hemert added a personal record 15.61 seconds to finish third.  Grinde was fifth with a time of 15.79 seconds.

Two DSU sprinters advanced to Friday's NSAA 100-meter dash finals after running in Thursday's prelims.  Lukas Bennett clocked a time of 10.68 seconds to place third, followed by Willie Hutchins with an eighth-place finish in 11.26 seconds.  Payton Anderson registered a time of 11.64 seconds.  Javon Newkirk added 11.73 seconds in the prelims.

Dakota State continued their dominancein the 4 x 800-meter relay, winning the title for the fifth consecutive year.  The relay members of Evan Armstrong, Yohannes Kassa, Logan Recoy, and Curtis Johnson broke an eight-year North Star conference meet record time, winning the title in 7 minutes, 42.74 seconds (which is the NAIA 'B' provisional qualifying time).

The previous NSAA conference meet record in the 4 x 800-meter relay was set during the 2017 outdoor conference meet in Jamestown, N.D., by the Trojans.  The members of Corey Hermann, Cameron Harming, Alex Derr, and Mark Moeller recorded a time of 7:48.97.

Bennett was edged by Jordan Mount of Valley City State (N.D.) in the 400-meter dash by .01 second.  Bennett finished second with a career best time of 48.95 seconds (Mount won NSAA's 400-meter dash in 48.94 seconds).  Minear added a third-place finish with a personal best time of 49.19 seconds.

Mohamed Muse registered a personal best 49.63 seconds to finish fifth in the 400-meter dash for DSU.  Ben Witt followed up with a sixth-place finish with a personal record 49.82 seconds, Nolan Slominski seventh with a season-best time of 49.95 seconds, and Franklin Johns ninth with a personal record 49.99 seconds.

Dakota State continues their action in the NSAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Friday, starting at 10 a.m. (Mountain Time) with the field events (long jump and shot put).  The running events start at 12:20 p.m. (MT) with the 3000-meter steeplechase.