April 16, 2005

DES MOINES, Iowa - [results] - Sophomore Jonathon Hawks (Gainsville, Ga.) captured the only first place finish for the Bemidji State track and field team as they traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the Jim Duncan Invite hosted by Drake University on Saturday. Hawks’ first place finish came in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.90.

Hawks ran another 100-meters as the first leg of the 400-meter relay team that finished in third place (42.74). Running with Hawks in the relay was sophomore Rodney Williams (Inglewood, Calif.), junior Torry Joubert (Port Authur, Texas) and junior Tristan White (Portland, Ore.). Along with Hawks’ first place finish in the 100-meter dash, each of the other members of the 400-meter relay team also had at least one other top-10 finish on the day.

Williams grabbed a second place finish in the long jump (21-8 1/2) and a ninth place finish in the 200-meter dash (23.05). Williams finished just .04 second behind Joubert who captured eighth place in the 200-meter dash with his time of 23.01.

White’s top-10 finish came in the 100-meter dash where he finished behind Hawks, in ninth place, with his time of 11.52. Also competing in the 100-meter dash for BSU was junior Ben Hopkins (Baudette, Minn.). Hopkins finished just ahead of White as well with his time of 11.46.

Sophomore Nicole Friend (International Falls, Minn.) performed well in several events for Bemidji State as well. On the track Friend grabbed a third place finish in the 400-meter dash before finishing ninth and eleventh in the long jump (15-11 1/2) and the javelin (95-5), respectively. Friend also ran the first leg of the 1600-meter relay team that finished in third place (4:03.55).

Running with Friend in the 1600-meter relay was senior Carly Perry (Lino Lakes, Minn.), freshman Ashley Spolarich (Maple Lake, Minn.) and freshman Jamie LeDuc (International Falls, Minn.)

LeDuc and Perry also teamed up with sophomore Shanna Anderson (Crane Lake, Minn.) and freshman Leah Grabil (Bagley, Minn.) to grab a fifth place finish in the 400-meter relay.

Members of the women’s relay teams also excelled in other events as Spolarich tied for third place in the high jump, clearing 5-3 just one week after tying the school record 5-8 1/2. Spolarich also grabbed a seventh place finish in the triple jump with her leap of 33-6.

Shanna Anderson completed in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in seventh (1:10.89) and Grabil, the only other member of the relay teams to grab an individual top-10 finish, did just that with her tenth place finish in the 100-meter dash with her time of 13.33.

The men’s and women’s track team grabbed a third, fourth and an eighth place finish in the 3000-meter steeple chase. Junior Christa Pribula (East Grand Forks, Minn.) finished in third place for the women (12:01.67) while the men’s team looked to sophomore Matt Bischof (Fergus Falls, Minn.) and junior Scott Anderson (Fergus Falls, Minn.) Bischof would finish in a tie for fourth place with his time of 10:09.86 while Scott Anderson crossed the line in eighth place (10:24.80.)

Also in the field events, senior Steve Schreiber (Forest Lake, Minn.) grabbed a third place finish in the high jump (6-6 3/4) and sophomore Tommy Crummy finished in fifth place, clearing 14-5 1/4 in the pole vault.

Bemidji State’s presence was highly noticed in the throwing events for both the men and the women. Sophomore Lindsey Bergeson (Trail, Minn.) finished sixth in the discus (111-7) and eighth in the shot put (36-5 1/2). Also for the women’s team, senior Erin Suhonen (Wright, Minn.) grabbed an eighth place finish in the discus (104-9) and eleventh place finish in the shot put (34-3) and a twelfth place finish in the javelin (94-3).

The men’s throwing squad, who already had 22 top-10 finishes in just two competitions before entering the Jim Duncan Invite, would add another nine behind the arms of junior Adam Wilson (Forest Lake, Minn.) and sophomore Justin Cox (Menahga, Minn.).

Wilson added a second place finish in the shot put (48-2 3/4) and a third place finish in the hammer throw (151-5) to his already spectacular collegiate resume while Cox added two fifth place finishes in both the discus (142-4) and the shot put (45-9 1/4) and an eighth place finish in the hammer throw with his toss of (125-8).

Joining Wilson and Cox with top-10 finishes was sophomore R.J. Gross (Jamestown, N.D.) with a third place finish in the shot put (47-3 3/4), junior Phil McCollam (Idaho Falls, Idaho) with a fourth place finish in the hammer throw (135-7), freshman Nick Hruska (Fariboult, Minn.) with a second place finish in the javelin (158-4) and sophomore Todd Zeidler (Plentywood, Mont.) with his third place finish in the javelin (157-10).

With the addition of nine top-10 finishes for the men’s throwers, they now have 31 top-10 finishes after just three competitions.

Bemidji State’s track and field team will next compete in the Cobber Outdoor on Tuesday before returning home to host the Beaver relays on April 23.

--bsu--