April 23, 2005

Cox, Winsor move into top spots in NSIC after performances at Beaver Relays

BEMIDJI, Minn. - [men's results] [women's results] - Hosting their first outdoor meet in two years, Bemidji State made a spectacular return to Chet Anderson Stadium on Saturday as the men finished at the top of the team standings in the Beaver Relays while the women’s team second place finish, falling only to the University of North Dakota.

The men ran away with the team title, racking up 300 points, over 200 more than their closest competitors. Combined, the men’s team only lost four events, capturing first place in 15 of the 19 events.

Despite not having the same output that the men had, the women still had a great day scoring 132 points in the team competition while posting 17 top-five performances.

In the women’s 100-meter dash, Bemidji State swept the first three places as Leah Grabil (Bagley, Minn.), Shanna Anderson (Crane Lake, Minn.) and Jaime LeDuc (International Falls, Minn.) crossed the finish line one after another. Grabil’s first place time of 13.32 was just inches ahead of Anderson (13.40) and LeDuc (13.50).

Grabil and Anderson each had other great finishes on the day. Grabil finished second in the 200-meter dash, moving into a tie for second best in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference this season. Anderson grabbed a fourth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 1:10.89.

The women’s team also got two top-five finishes out of Carly Perry (Lino Lakes, Minn.) who finished fourth, just under one second after Grabil, in the 200-meter dash (27.84) and grabbed another fourth-place finish in the 400-meter dash (1:05.49).

Although Christa Pribula’s (East Grand Forks, Minn.) time of 11:52.40 was only good enough for fourth place in the meet, it improved on her already NSIC best time, widening the gap between her and Nicole Coleman of Winona State.

For the men Ben Hopkins (Baudette, Minn.) grabbed two first-place finishes on the track. In the 100-meter dash, Hopkins time of 11.40 edged out fellow teammate Torry Joubert (Port Arthur, Texas) who finished in 11.70. Joubert captured another second-place finish, falling again to Hopkins in the 200-meter dash.

Rodney Williams (Inglewood, Calif.) followed Hopkins and Joubert in the 200-meter dash, finishing third with his time of 23.43, but Williams’ best performances of the day would come while he was playing in the sand. Williams won both the long jump and the triple jump with his leaps of 21-9 and 43-3, respectively. Williams’ mark in the triple jump is the third best in the NSIC this season.

In one of the four events that the men did not finish first in, the 400-meter dash, James Winsor (Hopkins, Minn.) finished second and moved into the top spot in the conference this with his time of 49.44.

Several other men moved into or up the NSIC’s top performance list this season. Mike Hougen (Bemidji, Minn.) finished first in the 400-meter hurdles, recording the conferences fourth best time this season (58.81).

In the throwing events the Bemidji State men simply dominated, finishing first in three of the four events and grabbing 11 top-five finishes.

Justin Cox (Menahga, Minn.) finished first in the shot put with his toss or 51-6. His put was good enough to overtake teammate Adam Wilson (Forest Lake, Minn.) at the top of the NSIC. Wilson finished second (49-6) followed by BSU’s R.J. Gross (Jamestown, N.D.)

Cox also placed first in the discus (146-11) and grabbed a fifth place finish in the hammer throw (132-05).

In the javelin throw Todd Zeidler (Plentywood, Minn.) out-threw the competition by over 10 feet, moving into a tie for second in the conference with his toss of 172-6. Zeidler also grabbed a second place finish in the 800-meter run with his time of 1:58.72.

Bemidji State will next be in action as the NSIC meet gets underway with the men’s and women’s multi on Sunday and Monday in Aberdeen, S.D. on the campus of Northern State University. Ashley Spolarich (Maple Lake, Minn.) and Nicole Friend (International Falls, Minn.) will compete for the women while Ben Mettling (Pine City, Minn), Rob Kucher (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) and Joseph Bernau (Courtland, Minn.) will make the trip for the men.

--bsu--