Posted: Apr 06, 2025
Vermillion, S.D. - The Dakota Wesleyan Tigers traveled to the University of South Dakota to take part in the USD Early Bird Invite. The meet was a two-day event that started on Friday, April 4th. The event gave the young team many opportunities to compete against strong competition.
Track Events:
Sprints-
- Barrett Nielsen (Jr.) competed in the 110m and 400m hurdles. Nielsen continues to improve in the 400m hurdles as he set a new PR of 57.63 seconds. A 1.48 second time drop from his previous 59.11 second run. In the 110m hurdles he ran a 15.78 second time, only .05 seconds away from tying his new recent PR. Nielsen continues to improve his runs as he currently sits as #5 in the GPAC for the 400m hurdles, and #3 in the 110m.
- Sean DeBlieck (Fr.) ran in the 100m. He ran a 11.30 second run. DeBleick also competed in the 200m open, running a 23.63.
- Gage Hohn (Fr.) also competed in the 400m dash. He posted a time of 54.68 seconds in his first outdoor 400m run. Hohn was .01 away from setting a new personal best.
Distance-
- Kade Watson (So.) continues to improve as the weeks go by as he posted a PR in the 800m race. He ran a 2:05 minute run, which is a 3 second run faster that his previous.
- Gage Dietterle (So.) made his college outdoor debut in the 800m race. Running a time of 2:10 minute run. A PR for the sophomore as he broke his old PR by 2 seconds, previously being a 2:12.
- Ian Chrisler (Fr.) ran in the 800m race. He finished with a good starting time of 2:11 minutes. Chrisler continues to close in on his PR.
Field Events:
Jumps-
- Quenton Walls (So.) had a strong long jump day as he hit an outdoor college PR. He jumped a 6.38m jump to start his day off. He looks to continue his found momentum as the season continues. As weather conditions start to improve Tiger fans can expect more PR's from Walls.
- A'Johntez Moore (Fr.) competed in his first outdoor triple jump this season. The young Tiger continues to improve as he starts to piece jumps together. Not only did he find the board in all his jumps, he hit a 13.27m jump that allowed him to qualify for finals. Moore looks to build as he continues back into competition form.
Throws-
- Christian Hanna (Sr.) the senior competed in the shot put, discus, and hammer throws. In the shot he threw a 10.85m mark. In discus, Hanna hit a PR of 30.59m. Out throwing his previous PR that he set last week. In the hammer he threw a 34.25m throw, showing improvement on each attempt.
- Cole Holden (Jr.) placed 1st overall at the meet with a 52.68m throw in the javelin. Holden not only threw a PR, but he is now #4 in the outdoor top-ten list for javelin.
- Max Raab (Jr.) competed in javelin, his best mark of the day was 46.59m. Placing him 5th overall in his event.
- Ethan Watson (Fr.) took part in three throwing events throughout the day. In the shot put the freshman threw 15.22m, placing 4th overall in the meet. In discus his best throw was 37.74m. In the hammer Watson PR'd by launching a 36.81m throw.
- Gage Hohn (Fr.) took part in the javelin himself, throwing a 24.74m throw. He looks to bounce back the next time he has an opportunity to throw.
Tigers Looking Ahead-
The Tiger team looks to continue on building. Experience is valuable to this young team as they aim to lower their times and to improve marks. Next week, the men's track and field will travel to Sioux City, Iowa to take part in the annual Sioux City Relays.