Michaela Dendinger continued her season-long success at the first-ever Southwest Minnesota State (SMSU) Open in Marshall, Minn., by winning the shot put and taking second in the discus and hammerthrow.

Braxton Adams led the men’s team by winning the 100-meter dash and running a leg on the first-place 4×100-meter relay.

After enduring a cold home meet, WSC enjoyed near perfect conditions as it was warm, sunny and calm and the Wildcats took full advantage of the conditions on Friday and Saturday.

“Overall, we had a pretty solid meet,” Head Coach Marlon Brink said. “The quality of marks was good and athletes showed a lot of competitiveness.”

The men’s 4×100-meter relay of Alvyns Alcenord, Adams, Clay Kramper and Jordan Zautke got the meet off to a strong start on Saturday by clocking 42.22 for first place.

“It was good to see the 4×100 win,” Brink said. “They can be a lot faster, but with a lack of practice time it went well. They should come into form later in the season. We have a solid core of guys and expectations are high.”

Later in the day, Adams added a win in the 100-meter with a time of 10.84.

Also for the men, Kramper was second in the 200-meter (22.10), Brady Metz was second in the triple jump (44’1 1/2’’) and third in the long jump (22’5 1/4’’), Kak Ayaj was third in the 800-meter (1:58.63), Nathan Pearson was fifth in the 800-meter (2:00.18), Nick Fly was fifth in the 1,500-meter (4:11.30), Matt Nemec was fifth in the hammer (164’8’’) and eighth in the discus (137’9’’), Derek Lahm was sixth in the javelin (155’11’’), Alcenord was sixth in the 100-meter (11.15), Jayle Hinkle was eighth in the shot put (44’11 1/2’’) and Dylan Kaup was tenth in the discus (136’5’’).
The 4×400-meter relay of Travis Eller, Pearson, Cody Kralicek, and Habib Jallow finished third with a time of 3:29.85.

“Braxton had a really good meet,” Brink said. “Brady also had a good meet. He jumped well, but still has the ability to jump further.”

Dendinger’s marks were 51’3 ½’’ in the shot put, 165’7’’ in the discus and 192’1’’ in the hammer. Her mark in the discus is an automatic national qualifying mark and her throw in the shot put is good enough for a provisional qualifying mark.

Also for the women, Shelby Roth placed third in the high jump (4’11’’) Tia Jones was fourth in the shot put (40’11 1/2’’), Kacie O’Connor was fifth in the discus (146’5’’), Melissa Kroll was eighth in the 800-meter (2:31.96), Tessa Ives was eighth in the hammer (154’1’’), Kes Burke was ninth in the hammer (141’10’’) and Mary Alderson was tenth in the 400-meter (1:00.44).

“Michaela did very well again,” Brink said. “It’s good to see consistency from her. Mary ran well and Kacie threw better and is close to a provisional mark in the discus.”

The Wildcats will be back in action this Friday and Saturday as the runners and jumpers will head to Maryville, Mo., for the NSIC/MIAA Challenge. The throwers will go to Seward, Neb., for the Concordia Invite.