FARGO, N.D. ? The North Dakota State men's track and field team leads the Summit League Championships with 47 points after one day of action.  In a tight competition, the top three teams are only separated by 11 points.

The distance medley relay team of junior Eric Stroh, senior Jayce Miller, redshirt freshman Travis Fitzke and freshman Moses Heppner set a new school record and finished second in 10:02.22.  They broke the previous record of 10:02.87 set in 2000.

Four Bison placed in the top eight of the pole vault to earn a total of 14 points for the team.  Sophomore Joseph Bredahl led the team with a fourth place finish, clearing 16-0 ¾. 

In the long jump, three Bison posted top eight finishes.  Junior Doug Scott was the top-ranked Bison, finishing fourth after a jump of 22-10 ½.

NDSU continued to show depth, placing three athletes in the top eight of the weight throw.  Senior Scott Johnson finished second with a throw of 59-5 ½, just missing out on first place by a quarter inch.

The Bison hold four of the top five sports through four events in the heptathlon.  Junior Ted Rud leads the field after with 3,033 points.  Fellow junior Weston Leutz sits in second with 3,012 points.  Senior Mike Hagen is fourth with 2,502 points, while redshirt freshman Ryan Jenson is fifth with 2,485 points.

Three Bison advanced to the final of the 60 meter hurdles.  Leutz posted the top qualifying time, finishing in 8.04.  Freshman Matt Tetzlaff ran a personal best of 8.12, which ranks ninth all-time at NDSU.  Sophomore Kevin Jackson also qualified after finishing in  8.26.

Jackson also qualified for the 60 meter final after leading the field with a time of 6.87 and the 200 meter final with the top time of 22.10.

Senior Jayce Miller advanced to the 400 meter final after posting a time of 50.51 in the preliminaries.

The Summit League Championships will conclude Monday, March 1.  The final three events of the men's heptathlon will begin at 9 a.m.  Field events begin at 11 a.m. and the running events start at noon.

TEAM SCORES AFTER DAY ONE

1.     North Dakota State, 47

2.     South Dakota State, 39

3.     Oral Roberts, 36

4.     Oakland, 24

4.     Southern Utah, 24

6.     UMKC, 16

7.     Western Illinois, 8