NDSU’s Offerman Receives Division I Track & Field Excellence in Communications Award
6/17/2019 4:16:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
The Excellence in Communications Award recognizes athletics communications representatives (one each at Division I, II and III) who have committed to outstanding coverage and support of collegiate track & field. Winners were selected by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff after a nomination period.
Offerman is in his seventh year at NDSU and works with Bison men's basketball in addition to men's and women's track & field and cross country.
From the USTFCCCA announcement:
SkullSparks put out a graphic on June 10 that detailed the top-25 collegiate track & field and cross country accounts that generated the most Twitter interactions over the previous year between June 2018 and June 2019.
You'd expect LSU, Texas Tech, Florida, Oregon and Arkansas to be up there – which they were at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5, respectively – but North Dakota State? You better believe the Bison sat pretty at No. 6 in front of Texas and Tennessee as well as several other major programs.
That's because of the work that Wes Offerman did.
We wouldn't be surprised if most – if not, all – of that engagement came during the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons, which is where the Bison thrived.
Offerman really impressed with his work surrounding Payton Otterdahl a.k.a. "The King in the North." Otterdahl took the nation by storm this year, and Offerman made sure everybody knew about it. The Bison thrower, who was recently named a semifinalist for The Bowerman, broke the collegiate indoor record in the shot put and won two NCAA titles in 2019.
It's safe to say people took notice about the entire NDSU program, too – not just the biggest, baddest Bison on the block.
"The greatest endorsement I can give him is that he managed to create a fan base for a sport that often goes largely unnoticed," NDSU coach Stevie Keller wrote in his nomination for Offerman. "When I am at competitions around the country, people talk to me about our team. They seek me out because they know our results and they feel as if they know our student-athletes. That is due to Wes and his commitment to our program and his passion for promoting the hard work and effort of our student-athletes."
