RESULTS

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The Royals hosted the first-ever track and field meet on Bethel's campus on Saturday, April 15th!

"It was quite a special day to host the first ever outdoor track meet on our campus!" said an enthusiastic Coach Andrew Rock. "I think I speak for the whole team when I day that the difficult weather had no effect on how much joy we had to be competing on our home track! Our hearts were full with gratitude and we really performed extremely well!"

The Royals won 6 events on Saturday, highlighted by a program record in the 4x100m relay. The team of Jayson Ekiyor, Grant Nelson, Cameron McConnell, and Jacob Parent won in a time of 41.30 that broke the 26-year old record. That time ranks Bethel 11th in Division III. 

For the 2nd week in a row, Joel Smith ran the #1 time in the nation in the 400m hurdles. Smith took the win in 52.44 while Jayson Ekiyor chased closely in a personal best time of 53.09. Ekiyor's time ranks him 6th in Division III. Trokon Karngar was 4th in a season best 57.15.

Josh Sampson opened his outdoor season with a victory in the 110m hurdles. Sampson ran the 12th fastest time in DIvision III with a time of 14.54. David Myres took 3rd place with a season best time of 15.30, and Pryce Ferrin was 5th in 15.92.

Cameron McConnell earned an individual title by winning the men's 100m dash in a personal best time of 11.05. Abe Schlegel took 3rd in 11.34 and Albert Smith was 5th in 11.46. McConnell also took 3rd place in the 200m in 22.68, just thousandths of a second behind teammate Colin Asplin who took 2nd.

Grant Nelson led the Royals in the field events by winning the long jump with a leap of 6.55m / 21'6". 

Evan Larsen had two podium finishes in the throws for the Royals. Larsen took 2nd place in the hammer. His toss of 51.53m / 169'1", is the 4th best in program history and a personal record by over 18 feet. Larsen also took 3rd in the discus with a throw of 40.56m / 133'1". 

The Royals also earned top-5 finishes from Micah Smith in the javelin, Adam Hokanson in the shot put (13.27m / 43'6.5"), Sam Gardeen in the pole vault (4.40m / 14'5.25"), and Alec Braun in the high jump (1.80m / 5'10.75").

Bethel capped off the day with a dominant performance in the 4x400m relay. Joel Smith, Grant Nelson, David Myres, and Jacob Parent combined to run 3:17.77, winning by over 7 seconds.

"I'm really proud of our teams for their effort and how hard they competed!" said Rock. 

The Royals continue competing next week at Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, April 22nd.