Blue Hawk women capture seventh straight NSAA title

MADISON, S.D. – Dickinson State (N.D.) led from start to finish, winning their seventh straight North Star Athletic Association Women's Outdoor Track & Field title Friday at The Dan Beacom Track Complex. The conference meet is hosted by Dakota State (S.D.), where athletes battled with windy conditions.

The Blue Hawks scored 272.75 points in the meet.  Viterbo (Wis.) finished second with 196.75 points, followed by Dakota State third with 187.75 points.  Valley City State (N.D.) placed fourth with 103.75 points, Waldorf (Iowa) fifth with 39 points, and Bellevue (Neb.) sixth with 21 points.

Friday's morning session kicked off with Adarra Hagelund with a new conference meet record for the second straight year for DSU.  She cleared the height of 1.70 meters (5 feet, 7 inches) to win the title.  There were four ties that finished second with 1.55 meters mark (5 feet, 1 inch) – Olivia Wingo of Viterbo, Olivia Backus of Valley City State, Kilee Bladow of DSU, and Lahna Matucha of Dakota State.

Taylor Laumeyer of Dickinson State won both throwing titles on Friday, while Oliviyah Thornton of Dakota State earned runner-up honors in each.  Laumeyer threw 43.43 meters (142 feet, 6 inches) in the discus and established a new conference meet record of 13.54 meters (44 feet, 5.25 inches) in the shot put (previous NSAA conference meet record was 13.36 meters – 43 feet, 10 inches by Seri Geisler of Valley City State in 2017).

Dickinson State's Kaitlyn McColly ran a time of 13.96 seconds to win the 100-meter hurdles, breaking the previous NSAA conference meet record of 14.38 seconds by Wrenzi Wrzesinski with a time of 14.38 seconds in 2023 conference meet.  It was the fifth straight year that the Blue Hawks had won the 100-meter hurdles title.

The Blue Hawks swept the 400-meter dash title, placing three runners in the top three spots.  Jewel Olson won the 400-meters title for the second straight year, finishing with a time of 57.15 seconds.  Kara Reed was second in 58.48 seconds, followed by McColly third with 59.05 seconds.

Madison Wahl won the pole vault for the second straight year, producing the NSAA conference meet record of 3.85 meters (12 feet, 7.5 inches).  Olivia Wingo and Emma Johnson originally broke the conference meet after clearing 3.70 meters (12 feet, 1.5 inches), while Wahl followed up with a new conference meet record of 3.80 meters.  The previous NSAA conference meet record was 3.55 meters (11 feet, 7.75 inches) held by Wahl in 2023 and Bailey Nuutinen of VU in 2022.

The Blue Hawks captured the 400-meter hurdles title for the sixth straight year, with Kara Reed winning the title in 1:05.97.

DiSU added a title in the 200-meter dash, paced by Jewel Olson with a time of 25.69 seconds. 

The conference meet wrapped up with Dickinson State winning the 4 x 400-meter relay with a new conference meet time of 4 minutes, 2.34 seconds.  The previous conference meet record was set by Dakota State during the 2019 meet (4:07.79).

The postseason awards were announced after the conclusion of the meet.  Jewel Olson of Dickinson State earned the NSAA Women's Track Athlete-of-the-Meet award after scoring 28.5 points.  Her teammate Laumeyer was awarded the Field Athlete-of-the-Meet with 28 points scored in the field events.

Kaitlyn McColly of DiSU was voted as the NSAA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Most Valuable Player.  Shayne Wittkopp of Dickinson State was selected as the NSAA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year.

The outdoor track & field season will conclude at the NAIA National Championships on May 22-24 in Marion, Ind., hosted by Indiana Wesleyan.

The official North Star Athletic Association Women's Outdoor Track & Field All-Conference list will be posted on the website Tuesday.