RESULTS

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Bethel Royals opened up their outdoor season where they left off from indoor: with national caliber performances. The Royals won 4 events that included national leading marks from Jacob Parent in the 400m and Joel Smith in the 400m hurdles. 

Parent dominated the 400m by running a personal best 47.00 seconds. That is the top time in Division III this year and the 2nd fastest time in program history. Not to be outdone, Smith used a strong 2nd half to win the 400m hurdles in a Division III leading time of 52.90 - the fastest season opener of his career. Smith led a large contingent of Royals in the top-5. David Myres was 3rd (55.25), Trokon Karngar was 4th (58.51), and Caleb Meeker was 5th (59.27).

Jayson Ekiyor narrowly edged out St. Olaf's Lukas Kramarczek to win the 110m hurdles. Ekyior separated himself after the final hurdle to win 14.37 to 14.40. That time ranks him 6th in Division III. David Myres was 5th in the 110m hurdles, with a time of 15.57. Ekiyor, Grant Nelson, Cameron McConnell, and Parent came together to run a terrific early season 4x100m relay. They won the race handily with the time of 41.71. That time ranks them 15th in Division III and is just 0.02 off the 26 year old program record.

Aidan St. George had a breakthrough race as he set a personal best in the 5000m by 38 seconds. St. George made a strong move in the final mile to put him into 2nd place and finished with a time of 15:13.43 - the 7th best time in program history. Reese Thompson took 4th with his time of 15:26.34.

Freshmen Grant Nelson and Simon Swenson led the way for the Royals in the field events. Nelson jumped a collegiate best 6.69m / 21'11.5" to take 2nd in the long jump. That is the 10th best mark in program history. Swenson had a great series of jumps that included 4 over 21 feet. His best leap of 6.56m / 21'6.25" placed him 4th overall. Swenson also took 5th in the high jump as he cleared 1.85m / 6'0.75". 

Sam Gardeen took 4th in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.37m / 14'4". Evan Larsen had a 3 foot personal best in the hammer throw as his toss of 45.96m / 150'9" placed him 5th overall and now ranks 10th on Bethel's all-time list.