Originally Posted by
Buffalo.Rider
One can make that argument; could very well be. Here are a few others that could possibly be best ever in T & F by an NDSU athlete.
o Laura Hermanson's 800m at NCAAs (2nd in Div I in 2009) and 800m at U.S. Championships (was school record by over 3 seconds, still 2nd all-time at NDSU)
o Christine Bruins 800m at U.S. Championships (2011), set the all-time best time at NDSU.
o Mike Slack's 2nd place finish in Div I National Cross-Country Championships in 1972.
One could also point to a few other great performances (outdoor) that perhaps are next tier great.
o Heith Janke - 800m Champion in NCAA Div II (1998) - would be 34th best in Div I today.
o Curt Bacon - 3000m Steeplechase two-time champion (1979 and 1980) in Div II - best time would be 21st best in Div I today.
o Nathan Schmidt - Decathlon Champion (2003 and 2004) in Div II - currently 3rd NDSU all-time, would be 15th best in Div I today.
.... and of the non-champions:
o John Bodine - Long Jump (1986) - would be 10th best in Div I today (5/5/18)
o Whitney Carlson - Long Jump (2011) - would be 3rd best in Div I today.
o Rose Jackson - Long Jump (2017) - would be 14th best in Div I today.
o Alex Renner - Shot Put (2017) - would be 12th best in Div I today.
o Erin Teschuk in 5000m (outdoor, 2016) - would be 13th best in Div I today.
o Erin Teschuk in 1500m (outdoor, 2016) - would be 16th best in Div I today.
o Erin Teschuk in 3000m Steeplechase (2015) - would be 2nd best in Div I today.
o Matti Mortimore - Javelin (2017) - would be 4th best in Div I today.
o Tyler Parker - Javelin (2015) - would be 9th in Div I today.
o Alyssa Olin - Javelin (2018) - currently is 2nd in Div I.
o Sierra Rosenau - Javelin (2016) - would be 18th in Div I today.
o Kari Wolf - Javelin (2018) - currently is 20th best in Div I.
o Leslie Brost - pole vault (2012) - would be 12th best in Div I today.
o 4x400m women - (2014) - would be 14th best in Div I today.
o Andrew Aakre - Decathlon (2005) - currently 1st NDSU
o Tom Leutz - Decathlon (1984) - currently 2nd NDSU
o Whitney Carlson - Heptathlon (2011) - would be 17th in Div I today.
o Rose Jackson - Heptathlon (2017) - would be 19th in Div I today.
o Allen Burrell - 100m (2004) - would be 14th best in Div I today.
o Eric Stroh - 800m (2011) - would be 13th best in Div I today.
o Jake Januszewski - 3000m Steeplechase (2007) - would be 19th best in Div I today.
o Amanda Thieschafer - Triple Jump (2004) - would be 19th best in Div I today, and this is one of the more competitive, tougher, years for this event.
o Jerome Begin - 110 Hurdles (2016) - would be 15th best in Div I today.
o Payton Otterdahl - Discus (2018) - currently 10th in Div I.
o Distance Medley Relay, men - (2012) - would be 11th best in Div I today.
o Distance Medley Relay, men - (1979) - would be 15th best in Div I today.
o Maddy Nilles - Hammer Throw (2018) - currently 10th in Div I, and she is only a sophomore!
o Katelyn Weimerskirch - Hammer Throw (2017) - would be 13th best in Div I today.
o Steffan Stroh - Hammer Throw (2018) - currently 16th in Div I.
o Sprint Medley Relay, men - (2011) - would be 11th best in Div I today.
o Sprint Medley Relay, women - (2014) - would be 8th best in Div I today.
o Toni Tollefson - high jump (2010) - would be tied for 12th best in Div I today.
(by the time I finished this list, I was pretty much blown away. I didn't realize there were this many Bison who have performed at this high a level. I used Top 20 as the cutoff (except for the Div II champions where I used a cutoff of Top 35) which means some notables (like Riley Dolezal, a two-time U.S. Champion) did not make the list. I suppose that given how times have come down and distances have gone up over the years, there are performances from the 1970s and 1980s that were Top 20 Div I at the time, but aren't today. Some of the distance runners from the 1970s probably would be on here).