Track news

[tony]

Andrew Aakre has a 96 point lead over UCLA's Chris Staton in the decathlon at the Mt. SAC Relays out in California after the first day. Kind of starved for track news so thought it might be a good time to throw this out there even though the competition isn't close to being over.

I'm not sure where NDSU is finding their decathletes, but they sure seem to develop nicely.

[ballboy]

That's great news.. GO Andrew!! 8)

[tony]

Aakre ended up taking second place - a Gopher athlete, last year's Big 10 champ, came out of nowhere and had a monster second day (two personal bests) to earn the win.

Aakre did set a new school record (old record by Bison great Nate Schmidt). He also had two personal bests of his own and achieved an NCAA DI automatic qualifying mark of 7528. There was some pretty good competition at the meet, including Phil McMullen, an assistant coach at Cal, who has the highest score in the country this year (7922!). unfortunately, McMullen didn't finish the 400m on the first day.

[scottheck]

Reece Vega is from the Rochester, MN area. This article is from today's paper. The local paper is available online only to subscribers. Thus, I have pasted it...


Vega hasn't slowed down at all

Fri, Apr 15, 2005

He didn't accept the track and field scholarship because of promises of far-flung trips or star gazing. But for Reece Vega, they've been nice bonuses.

Vega, a 2002 St. Charles High School graduate, is a junior at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Fargo is renowned for looking like someone took a rolling pin to it. That's nasty in the winter, with no protection from bitter winds.

That in mind, Vega has been pleased with the chances Division I institution NDSU has given its track and field athletes to board planes in recent months. They've been bound for such tropical locales as Texas and Florida. Better yet, the trips are about more than just thawing out and sight-seeing. There is also some amazing competition mixed in, with Vega and his teammates going head to head with the best of the best in collegiate track and field.

The most prime example came two weeks ago, at a meet in Arlington, Texas. The invitational was loaded with big-time track programs, including Baylor's. Vega did plenty of star gazing at the meet, spotting one superstar after another.

The No. 1 guy on his and everybody else's' list turned out to be Baylor's Jeremy Warner, the Olympic 400-meter champion from this past summer. Vega's best event is also the 400. While Warner didn't race against Vega in the meet, opting instead for the 200, he did inspired him.

"I don't get nervous when I am in the presence of someone like a gold medalist," Vega said. "I just think it makes things more exciting. I want to show him that I can also compete. I do my best at times like that."

Turns out Vega's best is good enough to compete with just about anybody, save for the Warners of the world. With a body that doesn't fit the stereotype of the muscles-popping sprinter, the wiry 6-foot-1, 155-pounder has surprised one field after another with his finishes.

That's exactly as Vega likes it. He looks forward to the incredulous comments that so often come at race's end. Skinny guys with North Dakota on their uniform are not supposed to run 47.6 in the 400. That's supposed to be reserved for the rippling, racehorse types from the South, or California.

"When you look at him, he looks more like a middle-distance runner," NDSU coach Don Larson said. "You wouldn't think he can do what he can."

Vega, who in high school was timed in 48.49 in the 400, has knocked that down to 47.6 now. That puts him in some fairly elite Division I company.

"After I beat these guys, they come up to me afterward so surprised and say, 'Where did you come from?'" Vega said. "Or sometimes they are so (mad) that I beat them that they just walk away from me. It's great to go out there and show them that I can win a race."

Vega does have an admission, though. Not even he was sure he was going to be able to compete at this level. When he showed up at North Dakota State, sold on Larson's personable approach and that he made the 350-mile trip to recruit him, NDSU was a Division II program. Vega knew the switch to Division I was coming, though it would wait until this season.

"At first I was skeptical about how I would do in Division I," he said. "In Division II, I knew I'd probably be making it to nationals a lot. But I didn't know about Division I.

"But now I really like it. It's a big deal to be Division I in track because you go to such better meets and against so much better competition. It makes you better."

Vega, who set the NDSU indoor school record in the 600 this season, has been good enough to qualify for Division I nationals. It's an independent Division I nationals, for schools such as NDSU that are in the infant stages of having changed to Division I. Vega has made it the 400, and will also run a leg on NDSU's standout 4 x 400 relay team.

[sambini]

DON LARSON IS ONE HELL OF A COACH. HE FINDS THESE KIDS AND MAKES THEM INTO STARS. ANDY AAKRE IS FROM STEPHAN,MN. SAME ARE AS RYAN MCGLYN AND ANDI NOEL. BOTH ALL AMERICANS FOR THE MEN AND WOMENS TEAMS. KEEP IT GOING BISON.

[Hager780]

you might want to KNOW where your "athletes" come from ....that's STEPHEN, MN!!! >:( >:( >:(

[Hager780]

but hey...'ceep it goin' BISON!!

[kchats]

you might want to KNOW where your "athletes" come from ....that's STEPHEN, MN!!! >:( >:( >:(

It's also Valparaiso, Indiana you idiot!

[sambini]

780 GET ALIFE AND FOLLOW SUEE TRACK AND FIELD A REAL POWERHOUSE.

[Trackie]

Andrew Aakre completed the Mt. Sac in second place with a school record 7528 points. This is an NCAA Div I automatic qualifying mark. His point total also ranks him 8th on the U.S. National List. The kid is dominating.

Check out the Bison track teams this weekend at Drake on www.drakerelays.com. The Bison will compete in the Div I category and should compete very well in the 4x400 and other relays. The 4x4 will give the boys a chance to butt heads with the tops of DI.

[bisongold]

There should be a full-page spread on Aakre in the Forum as he is undoubtably the best athlete in ND! I am very serious about this. These track athletes at NDSU need more recognition!

[bisongold]

sorry....sp...undoubtedly.....sorry.

[sambini]

i talked to coach larson tonite he was very pleased with the teams effort at drake relays. you can watch the meet on the internet go to www.drakerelays.com.

[somebison]

heading to the relays in about an hour, hoping to get a digi camera from a friend... if so I will post pics

[sambini]

WATCHED THE RELAYS ON THE INTERNET. BISON DID A GOOD JOB. THE COVERAGE WAS EXCELLANT BY THE DRAKE BROADCASTING STUDENTS.

[sambini]

NICE ARTICLES IN THE FARGO FORUM ON MAY PAPER ON ANDY AND THE MENS TRACK TEAM. JEFF KOLPACK DID A NICE KUDOS THEM BOTH.

[sambini]

GOOD LUCK AT UCDAVIS THIS WEEKEND AT INDEPENDANT NATIONAL MEET.

[Bisonguy]

Congrats!!!!

Bison men win the DI Independent Championship and the Bison women take second in the DI Independent Championship!

The Bison did fairly well in the individual awards, as well:

Men's Athlete of the Meet: Andrew Aakre (NDSU)
Women's Athletes of the Meet: Sheena Dauer (SDSU); Nicole Rieck (NDSU)
Men's Coach of the Year: Don Larson (NDSU)
Women's Coach of the Year: Deanne Vochatzer (UC Davis)

[tophatfan]

This is just the start of many championships that will be earned by SU in the years to come.

[IowaBison]

This is just the start of many championships that will be earned by SU in the years to come.

you mean the second as our men also won the independent bball championship as well.

[tophatfan]

you mean the second as our men also won the independent bball championship as well.

My bad

[sambini]

great job men and womens track. congrats to don larson and staff. coach godfrey you guys are awesome.

[Bison_Dan]

Do the qualifiers go on to the DI championships?

[mikelsch]

Qualifying for Nationals is based on times and distances only. NDSU's men and women have 3 more seasons of championship probation, even if they have a qualifying time or distance.

[JBB]

Nice write up on NDSU track with 3 athletes honored as academic all americans:

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=95752&section=Sports

[DG_Moore]

The success NDSU has had in track recruiting is amazing. Two years ago Larson was asked how hard it would be to recruit Division I caliber athletes. He said that the present team was Division I and he only needed to keep them. Results last spring show he was right. This year, because of graduation, will be more difficult.

A good thing about Division I track is that there are regional meets to qualify for the National meet and the qualifyiing times and distances for the regional meets are about the same as the National qualifiying times for Division II. NDSU will have athletes in the regional for this region every year.

The emphasis on football means that there is constant reference to our being in Division IAA. However, as we all know but tend to overlook is that in all other sports we are in Division I period.

[tony]

Hey, welcome aboard, DGMoore! We need more track fans on here. Gonna be a much different year for NDSU with so many talented guys having graduated.

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if DI drops the "AA" classification. There's some debate nationally about whether that would be good or bad for football, but it would sure be nice for the other sports. NDSU went DI, after all, not DI-AA - but everybody says that NDSU went DI-AA.

[IowaBison]

Hey, welcome aboard, DGMoore! We need more track fans on here. Gonna be a much different year for NDSU with so many talented guys having graduated.

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if DI drops the "AA" classification. There's some debate nationally about whether that would be good or bad for football, but it would sure be nice for the other sports. NDSU went DI, after all, not DI-AA - but everybody says that NDSU went DI-AA.

I'm pissed about the editorial in the forum yesterday that misused DI-AA about eight times:

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=101295&section=Opinion

I was going to email them and complain, but I already pointed out a bigger issue with an article last week. That being said

I hope the Bison Track team continues its success.

[kchats]

I read that editorial and they never ever mention that NDSU is division I. They call us division I-AA which is wrong. As the division I-AA football coaches say we are division I. The only difference is we decide our national champion on the field and we have 63 scholarships instead of 85. All of our other sports are division I and they all did quite well last season.

I love these editorials where they seem to blame NDSU for the rivalry ending and expect the Bison to open up a precious spot on our non-division I available spots in the schedule for UND. I agree with our administrations stance on this the rivalry is old news, however it would still be being played if UND hadn't thumbed their noses at us last year when we needed games.