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TULSA, Okla. –
Trevor Otterdahl and
Benji Phillips led a dominant showing in the throwing events for the North Dakota State men's track & field team on the opening day of the Summit League Outdoor Championships.
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The Bison men claimed an early lead in the team standings, putting up 40 points on Thursday to outpace second-place South Dakota State at 30.
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Otterdahl launched a career-best 225-4 (68.69m) to win the Summit League hammer throw title. He moved up to No. 2 all-time at NDSU, and into the Top 20 in the nation this season.
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Phillips defended his conference title in the javelin, winning with a mark of 208-2 (63.46m) in his first meet of the year. NDSU sophomore
Matt Kraft took runner-up honors with a throw of 202-11 (61.84m). Freshman
Sam Roller threw a personal-best 200-7 (61.13m) for fourth place in his conference meet debut.
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NDSU's
Kristoffer Thomsen (197-0 / 60.04m) and
Tristan Bush (194-8 / 59.34m) both posted the second-best hammer throw marks of their careers to take fifth and sixth, respectively.
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Eric VanErp is the Summit League decathlon leader after Day 1, scoring 3,634 points through five events. VanErp opened the decathlon with a wind-legal personal-best of 11.22 in the 100m dash, and later added an outdoor long jump PR of 22-10 (6.96m) and a career-best shot put of 42-10.75 (13.07m).
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The meet will resume Friday at 10 a.m. with the decathlon 110m hurdles. Field events begin at 2 p.m.
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