North Dakota State Men Ready for NCAA West Preliminary Rounds

Thursday, May 23

Sacramento, Calif.

North Dakota State Athletics

NCAA West Preliminary Rounds - Day One

Photo by: The Summit League

North Dakota State Men Ready for NCAA West Preliminary Rounds

5/21/2019 3:00:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

NCAA Preliminary Rounds Qualifiers
Schedule of Events (PDF)
Meet Info
Live Results | Live Video

FARGO, N.D. – The North Dakota State men's track & field team has qualified 14 entries for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds held May 23-25 at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif.

A total of 11 Bison men will compete – with three entered in a pair of events – for the largest men's contingent of qualifiers in school history.

Senior Payton Otterdahl enters the meet ranked second in the West in both the shot put and discus. Sophomore Alex Talley is No. 10 in the West in the hammer throw, with freshman Kristoffer Thomsen also near the top 12 at No. 16 in the shot put.

NDSU Men's Schedule of Events (All Times Pacific)

Thursday, May 23 (All Times Pacific)

12 p.m. – Hammer Throw – Alex Talley, Jacob Slate, Michael Keogan
3:30 p.m. – Long Jump – Brandon Lewis

Friday, May 24 (All Times Pacific)

12 p.m. – Javelin – Brendan Artley, Benji Phillips
4 p.m. – Discus – Payton Otterdahl
7:55 p.m. – 200m dash – J.T. Butler

Saturday, May 25 (All Times Pacific)

2:45 p.m. – Shot Put – Payton Otterdahl, Kristoffer Thomsen, Alex Talley, Michael Keogan
4 p.m. – High Jump – Marcus Walton
6:30 p.m. – Triple Jump – Kelle'Mon Hinton

How to Advance
The top 12 finishers in each event at the Preliminary Rounds will advance to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, on June 5-8.

In the hammer, javelin, discus, shot put, long jump and triple jump, all 48 competitors will receive a single round of three attempts. The top 12 marks overall advance to the NCAA Championships.

In the 200m, the top three finishers from each heat plus the next six fastest times (24) will advance to the quarterfinals. The top three finishers from each quarterfinal heat plus the next three fastest times (12) will advance to the NCAA Championships.

In the high jump, the top 12 athletes based on performance after tiebreakers and possibly a jump-off will qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Young Herd
NDSU will have four freshmen competing at the NCAA West Prelims -- true freshman Kristoffer Thomsen and redshirt freshmen Brendan Artley, Benji Phillips and Brandon Lewis. It is the largest group of freshmen qualifiers ever for the Bison men.

Veteran Presence
Senior Payton Otterdahl will be the lone Bison competing this week who has been to the NCAA Preliminary Rounds more than twice. Otterdahl will be competing in the shot put and discus for the fourth time.

10 Straight League Titles
The Bison men have captured 10 consecutive Summit League outdoor team titles and 11 in 12 years since joining the league prior to the 2008 season.

Athlete	Year	Event	West Region Rank	Prelims Appearance	Personal Best	NDSU All-Time Rank
Payton Otterdahl	Sr.	Shot put	2nd	4th	70-01.50 (21.37m)	1st
		Discus	2nd	4th	206-6 (62.94m)	1st
Alex Talley	So.	Hammer throw	10th	2nd	218-0 (66.46m)	3rd
		Shot put	18th	2nd	62-02.50 (18.96m)	4th
Kristoffer Thomsen	Fr.	Shot put	16th	1st	62-11.25 (19.18m)	3rd
Brendan Artley	RFr.	Javelin	20th	1st	226-0 (68.89m)	5th
Michael Keogan	Jr.	Shot put	27th	2nd	60-05.00 (18.41m)	7th
		Hammer throw	46th	1st	198-0 (60.36m)	11th
Kelle'Mon Hinton	Sr.	Triple jump	28th	1st	50-04.50 (15.35m)	3rd
Jacob Slate	So.	Hammer throw	30th	1st	205-10 (62.75m)	8th
Marcus Walton	So.	High jump	31st	1st	6-11.00 (2.11m)	T-5th
Benji Phillips	RFr.	Javelin	33rd	1st	209-4 (63.82m)	---
J.T. Butler	Sr.	200m dash	33rd	1st	20.94	4th
Brandon Lewis	RFr.	Long jump	37th	1st	24-07.75 (7.51m)	T-5th