2017 Season

[tony]

Alex Renner and Payton Otterdahl have set the two top marks in NDSU history in the shot put.
Payton Otterdahl and Conrad Schwarzkopf set the two top marks in NDSU history in the weight throw.

And today Landon Jochim broke NDSU's indoor 400m record! When you consider the great 400 runners that NDSU has had, that's pretty special. Marques Johnson, Jared Essler, Jason Breitzman, etc... NDSU was always strong in the 400.

[Castor Troy]

Alex Renner and Payton Otterdahl have set the two top marks in NDSU history in the shot put.
Payton Otterdahl and Conrad Schwarzkopf set the two top marks in NDSU history in the weight throw.

And today Landon Jochim broke NDSU's indoor 400m record! When you consider the great 400 runners that NDSU has had, that's pretty special. Marques Johnson, Jared Essler, Jason Breitzman, etc... NDSU was always strong in the 400.

It looks like they should have a good 4x8, and some throwers. Multi-eventers as well, but still lacking jumpers and sprinters. JT Butler looks like a nice edition.

[Tony Almeida]

It looks like they should have a good 4x8, and some throwers. Multi-eventers as well, but still lacking jumpers and sprinters. JT Butler looks like a nice edition.

We have never been a sprinter's program but I wouldn't mind seeing that change. I wonder why that is, it seems we focus on distance and field events...Is it because that is what our coaches specialize in and are the most comfortable with? Is it because it's hard to recruit good sprinters to our region?

There was a class I remember in men's sprinting that was one of the best in NDSU history, I think it was early 2000's....Marques Johnson and Allan Burrell are the first names that come to mind but there were more that made up the relays and those boys could fly...but I think that was an anomaly bc those guys came to NDSU to play football and just happened to run 10.3 sec. 100M dashes.

[BisonJump]

We have never been a sprinter's program but I wouldn't mind seeing that change. I wonder why that is, it seems we focus on distance and field events...Is it because that is what our coaches specialize in and are the most comfortable with? Is it because it's hard to recruit good sprinters to our region?

There was a class I remember in men's sprinting that was one of the best in NDSU history, I think it was early 2000's....Marques Johnson and Allan Burrell are the first names that come to mind but there were more that made up the relays and those boys could fly...but I think that was an anomaly bc those guys came to NDSU to play football and just happened to run 10.3 sec. 100M dashes.

Stacey Robinson, Robert Blakely, John Bodine, Mike Eckroth. Just a few among many others.

[Castor Troy]

Stacey Robinson, Robert Blakely, John Bodine, Mike Eckroth. Just a few among many others.

There certainly has been some sprinters throughout ndsu history, but there is usually some space between the good ones. We win the conference with throwers, middle distamce runners, and jumpers. This year we did it without jumpers. The multi is also a strength.

We have never been a sprint power, so I am more concerned about the lack of jumpers. We have our former jumps coach to blame.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Muchos felicidades por Renner y Jackson.

Great job folks for qualifying for the Indoor Div I NCAAs. Very impressive.
Also very impressive that NDSU has had at least one person go for several years in a row now.

Best of luck to them and may they have a great meet and may they win All-American status.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Riverside T & F meet today, 3/25/17. Temperatures in the 60s, mild wind (under 10mph)

While it seemed that quite a few events had mediocre performances, there were some good ones. I was impressed with a Freshman from Utah Valley who ran a 9:32 3000m Steeplechase. NDSU's school record of about 9:48 is a pretty good time and was run by two men who were seniors and ran pretty mean mile times.

The invitation men's mile was won in about 4:15, which was not impressive - did they save everything until a fast last quarter? The men's 1500 meter was about the same pace, slightly slower. The women were better - NDSU took 1-2 in the invitation mile running about 4:53. Both ran their best ever mile times and are in the Top 10 list at NDSU.

Nice NDSU showing in the 400m, taking 1-2. Times were good but not great (55 something for both Milbraith and Woods). Meet record by the men, 47.4 by a guy from Riverside. Where was Jochim today - home sick?

Andrushko (NDSU) won the 800m in 2:10, which is a pretty decent first outdoor meet time.

400m Hurdles, a senior woman from Wisconsin ran a 59 and change, which is an very good time. A UC-Fullerton sophomore won the men's in 52 something, also pretty good.

Rose Jackson's 200m record from last year (24.02) was run over by a sophomore from Wisconsin who ran 23.68. Jackson did not run.

NDSU women took 1-2 in the pole vault, jumping 12' 5-1/2". Nice victory. Not personal bests however.

Wittmeyer, a freshman (outstanding) won the high jump in 5' 6" or so. Good future here I think. Perhaps make 6 ft by her senior season?

Looks like the throwers did not go, must have stayed in FArgo to train.

I am sure I missed someone who should have been mentioned, but those are some of the highlights that I noticed.

[Castor Troy]

Riverside T & F meet today, 3/25/17. Temperatures in the 60s, mild wind (under 10mph)

While it seemed that quite a few events had mediocre performances, there were some good ones. I was impressed with a Freshman from Utah Valley who ran a 9:32 3000m Steeplechase. NDSU's school record of about 9:48 is a pretty good time and was run by two men who were seniors and ran pretty mean mile times.

The invitation men's mile was won in about 4:15, which was not impressive - did they save everything until a fast last quarter? The men's 1500 meter was about the same pace, slightly slower. The women were better - NDSU took 1-2 in the invitation mile running about 4:53. Both ran their best ever mile times and are in the Top 10 list at NDSU.

Nice NDSU showing in the 400m, taking 1-2. Times were good but not great (55 something for both Milbraith and Woods). Meet record by the men, 47.4 by a guy from Riverside. Where was Jochim today - home sick?

Andrushko (NDSU) won the 800m in 2:10, which is a pretty decent first outdoor meet time.

400m Hurdles, a senior woman from Wisconsin ran a 59 and change, which is an very good time. A UC-Fullerton sophomore won the men's in 52 something, also pretty good.

Rose Jackson's 200m record from last year (24.02) was run over by a sophomore from Wisconsin who ran 23.68. Jackson did not run.

NDSU women took 1-2 in the pole vault, jumping 12' 5-1/2". Nice victory. Not personal bests however.

Wittmeyer, a freshman (outstanding) won the high jump in 5' 6" or so. Good future here I think. Perhaps make 6 ft by her senior season?

Looks like the throwers did not go, must have stayed in FArgo to train.

I am sure I missed someone who should have been mentioned, but those are some of the highlights that I noticed.

Thanks for the details on your recap! I always take a special interest in the jumpers since my wife is a hall of famer, so we are watching Miss Wittmeyer closely.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Many good performances this past weekend at the various meets in S. Cal. One stood out for me ... Landon Jochim ran a 46.6 unofficial split in the 400m.
There are other performances worth mentioning, but that is such a good time, I think he deserves his own post.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Another outstanding performance, and one where I think there is an interesting personal story behind it, is Alyssa Olin's javelin hurl this weekend.

Rosenau's 171 foot toss from 2016 (only a year ago) was a really good throw and I thought this would stand as an NDSU school record for awhile. But here we have a junior, so one more year yet, who breaks Rosenau's really strong javelin mark by throwing 174' 5" only a year later.

The personal story that I find interesting ... from Mott ND, population 793 (2016). Class B athlete, multi-sport participant that did well at the Class B level, although not a state champion in any sport. Runner up in the Class B state javelin twice, so this is good, really good. I don't know anything about her high school coaching, but I assume the coaches had limited knowledge about how to throw a javelin. So not much here to suggest she might be an upper echelon javelin thrower nationally three years later.
(I do not know Olin personally, this came from her BIO at gobison.com)

Credit the coaching and the environment (pursuit of excellence) at NDSU to tease the talent out of Olin. What a super javelin performance and nice story. She is presently #8 on the NCAA national list.