FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –North Dakota’s Jadyn Keeler grabs another ticket to Eugene to highlight the final day of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds for Summit League athletes.
North Dakota
The final day of competition at the NCAA West Preliminary Round ended in high fashion for North Dakota track and field following a trio of Fighting Hawk performances on Saturday.
Headlines were made as Jadyn Keeler wrapped up the meet for UND and did so in stunning style during the women's 5000-meter run. She clocked a time of 15:26.87 to finish fourth in her heat and fifth overall which also marked a brand new school record, a new personal best and her second ticket punched to the NCAA Championship meet. Her overall finish marks a grand improvement from her initial ranking heading into the event at No. 10 overall in the region.
It marks the fourth time Keeler has competed in the 5000-meter run this season. The senior initially broke her own school record and solidified her regional meet bid with her performance at the Bryan Clay Invitational that ended in a time of 15:26.98.
Also competing in day four was Frida Giersdorff, who represented the Fighting Hawks in the 3000-meter steeplechase. She ran a time of 10:42.79 to finish 31
st overall after participating in the third straight NCAA West Prelims of her career. The junior's season comes to a close after a sparkling year marked by a school record-showing, three new personal bests and an All-Summit League performance at the conference meet a few short weeks ago where she collected a silver medal in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Her NCAA West Prelim bid came after initially breaking the 3000-meter steeplechase school record in 10:06.17 at the Stanford Invitational.
The first athlete to take on Saturday action was Anya Williams in the women's high jump, who was unable to clear a bar in the event. But her sophomore season was nothing short of history-making. Williams' second-year campaign resulted in two broken school records in the high jump and triple jump, a runner-up and silver-medal showing at the conference meet and a total of three new personal bests in the high jump, long jump and triple jump all within a single week.
It was her school-record clearance of 5-9 1/4 (1.76m) at the Gary Wilson Invitational that helped her secure a NCAA West Prelims bid.
With competition at the preliminary round now completed, Jadyn Keeler and Louis-Lys Fanucchi will soon represent North Dakota at the 2025-26 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. from June 10-13.
North Dakota State
The North Dakota State women's track & field team concluded competition at the NCAA West First Rounds on Saturday.
Bison junior Arienne Birch cleared a season-best 5-11.25 (1.81m) in the high jump to place 18th.
Sophomore sprinter Paige Renschler placed 22nd in the 200m dash quarterfinals, clocking 23.40. She also finished 23rd in the quarterfinals of the 100m dash in 11.39.
The top 12 finishers in each event advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Renschler broke the NDSU school records and swept the Summit League titles in the 100m and 200m this season. Birch is the school record holder and a six-time Summit League champion in the high jump.
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