RESULTS
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Royals opened their 2025 outdoor track and field season with a podium sweep in the 400H and a 1-2 finish in the open 400m dash.Â
Bethel dominated the 400H with a sweep of the podium positions. Jayson Ekiyor won the race in 53.68, Josh Thomsen was 2nd in 54.54, and David Myres was 3rd in 55.30.Â
All-American duo Jacob Parent and Grant Nelson led the Royals with a 1-2 finish in the 400m dash. Parent won the race in 48.27, while Nelson ran 48.84. Bethel's Caleb Ketterling was 5th in 50.88, Sam Raitz was 6th in 51.05, and Taaron Rudzitis was 7th in 51.81.
The Royals earned half of the scoring positions in the shot put, led by Adam Hokanson, who placed 3rd with a throw of 14.40m / 47'3". Timmy Ball was 5th with 14.22m / 46'8", Evan Larsen was 7th with 13.88m / 45'6.5", and Jonathan Ritz was 8th with 13.53m / 44'4.75".
Hokanson won the hammer throw, tossing the 16 pound ball 51.93m / 170'4". Phil Conant took 6th with a throw of 42.19m / 138'5".
Bethel's stellar day in the throws extended to the discus, as the Royals took 4 of the top-6 spots. Freshman Timmy Ball took 2nd place throwing 44.50m / 146'0". Evan Larsen was 3rd with 43.57m / 142'11". Phil Conant was 5th with 40.78m / 133'9", and Adam Hokanson was 6th with 38.59m / 126'7".Â
Victor Lelinga was the runner-up in the 800m run with his time of 1:56.83. Clark Nelson took 8th place with 1:58.15.
Blake Viesselman had a massive personal best in the 110H to start off his sophomore campaign. Viesselman took 2nd place overall with his time of 15.43. Josh Lee was 7th in 16.31.
Grant Graber took 3rd place in the 5k with his time of 15:26.56. Freshman Hootie Hage was 7th in 15:41.23.
The 4x400m relay team of Luke Van Geest, Victor Lelinga, Michael Schultz, and Gabe Kuecker placed 2nd with their time of 3:34.97.
Luke Daenzer placed 6th in pole vault as he cleared 3.60m / 11'9.75".
Jonah Kalsnes placed 8th in the 3000m steeplechase, running 10:20.57.
The Royals will host the Bethel Invitational next week, Saturday, April 12th at Royal Stadium. Throwing will get underway at 9:00 AM, while running events will begin at 9:30 AM.
