RESULTS

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Bethel Royals opened up the 2023 track and field season with a team title at the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic hosted by Macalester. Bethel tallied 170.5 team points, defeating 6 MIAC teams. "Our men had a great season opener," said Head Coach Andrew Rock. "There was a lot of excitement from our team. It was great to see the love and support they poured out for each other. We wanted to come into this meet with boldness and our guys showed that."

The Royals won 8 events and set 2 program records on Saturday, highlighted by freshman Landen Liu's program and MIAC all-time record of 6.80 in the 60m dash. Liu took 0.11 seconds off Tony Moses' program record from 1994 and edged out Emmanuel Egbujor's conference all-time record from 2018 in his first collegiate meet. That time also places Liu as the 6th best performer in Division III this year. 

Jacob Parent tied Karl Olsen's 200m dash record, winning the event in an indoor personal best of 22.10. That time puts Parent 5th on the Division III honor roll this season. 

Jayson Ekiyor won the 60m hurdle race that featured 4 of the top 12 hurdlers in Division III. Ekiyor's time of 8.14 set a personal best in the event, and is currently ranked 6th in the nation. Josh Sampson's time of 8.17 in 3rd place, currently ranks him 8th in Division III. 

Joel Smith ran a personal best in the 600m to lead a Royal sweep of the top 4 places. His time of 1:20.64 set a meet record, while Nathan Smith (1:25.38 - 2nd), Tad Stewart (1:27.43 - 3rd), and Clark Nelson (1:27.80 - 4th) all set personal bests. 

Bethel won two jumping events as Sam Gardeen won the pole vault in a personal best 4.25m / 13'11.25" and freshman Grant Nelson won the long jump with a leap of 6.49m / 21'3.5". Evan Larsen (13.89m / 45'7") and Adam Hokanson (13.75m / 45'1.5") earned 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the shot put. 

The Royals swept the relays to finish out the day. The team of David Myres, Parent, Smith, and Grant Nelson won the 4x400m relay in 3:23.12 won the race by over 10 seconds and are currently ranked 10th in Division III. 

The Royals will compete again next Saturday, January 28th at St. Olaf.