Bison Men’s Track & Field Finishes Second at Summit League Championships

VERMILLION, S.D. - The North Dakota State men's track & field team was in the hunt for its fifth Summit League indoor team title in six years on Monday, but the Bison were unable to outscore South Dakota over the final two events to take the team championship.

South Dakota won the conference title with 190 points, and NDSU finished second with 176.5. Kansas City was third with 118 points.

The Bison won four consecutive Summit League indoor titles from 2008-11 before finishing third a year ago.

NDSU claimed three individual event titles on Monday. Junior Andy Lillejord eclipsed Ted Rud's heptathlon school record, scoring 5,661 points and also setting a meet record and DakotaDome record in the process of defending his league heptathlon title. Lillejord's score vaulted him to the No. 13 spot on the national performance list, securing him a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships.

With second-place finishes in the pole vault and long jump on Sunday, Lillejord contributed a total of 26 team points to the Bison total. He was named the league's 2013 Indoor Championships Field MVP.

Senior Matt Tetzlaff won the 60m hurdles in 8.04 seconds after owning the league's fastest time in the event all season. Parker McKittrick ran a personal-best time of 8.16 seconds for third place and All-Summit League honors.

Junior Moses Heppner raced to a league title in the 800m, winning in 1:54.35. Teammate Alec Espeland was the runner-up in 1:55.44.

Travis Fitzke, competing for the first time since Jan. 19, contributed 16 points to the team total with runner-up finishes in the mile and 5,000m. His time of 14:37.54 in the 5,000m ranks No. 5 in NDSU history.

Sophomore Jordon Rehak placed second in the high jump with a clearance of 6-08.00 (2.03m).

Sophomore Jerome Begin posted All-Summit League performances in a pair of events, placing third in the 200m and 400m.

Tetzlaff, Alex Neumiller, Espeland and Heppner teamed up for a runner-up finish in the 4x400m relay.

Freshman Colin Paarmann notched a fifth-place finish for the Bison in the 60m hurdles, running the event for the first time this weekend. Neumiller was fifth in the 400m in 50.72 seconds.

Behind Lillejord's heptathlon title, four more Bison multi-event athletes combined to give NDSU 24 team points in the event. Senior Ryan Jenson was third, Kellen Plutowski was fourth, Beau Gagnon was seventh, and Alex Koppy was eighth.

Redshirt freshman Brandt Berghuis and senior Casey Orgon finished fourth and fifth in the shot put, respectively.