Nicole Court-Menendez

Jessica Fossum

Daniel Porter

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. Dakota Wesleyan University sophomore Nicole Court-Menendez hit the ‘A qualifying standard for the NAIA Indoor National Championships in the 3,000-meter racewalk Saturday afternoon.

Court-Menendez finished fifth in the event in 15:56.97 at the Snow Bird Open in Jacksonville, Ill. She became the first female indoor All-American in school history at the 2013 indoor national meet in the same event.

While Court-Menendez was competing in Jacksonville, the remainder of the Tiger track team competed at the Dave Little Alumni Meet, hosted by Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. Jessica Fossum recorded three top-15 finishes to pace DWU, including a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. She finished in 9.83 seconds, the second-fastest time in DWU indoor history. She also took 11^th in the high jump with a leap of 4-feet-5 inches, the eighth-best mark in history, and took 14^th in the long jump with a mark of 16-4.25, the sixth-best in Tiger history.

Abby Fossum took ninth in the triple jump with a leap of 32-11.25, and Jamie Geho finished 10^th in the 5,000-meter run in 22:12.97. Ariana Arampatzis took 12^th in the high jump with a leap of 4-1.25, the ninth best in school history, and 14^th in the pole vault with a mark of 9-4.5, the second-best vault in DWU history. Also for the Tiger women, Skylar Forgey took 16^th in the 800 in 2:30.32.

Dan Porter paced the Dakota Wesleyan men with an eighth-place finish in the triple jump. He recorded a mark of 42-feet. He also took 20^th in the long jump with a mark of 19-2.5. Ryan Antaya finished 11^th in the weight throw with a toss of 42-11.75. Tyler Volesky finished 15^th in the 400 (54.77) and 17^th in the 200 (24.29). Gabe Dirksen took 19^th in the 400 in 58.33 seconds, Kellan Willet finished 18^th in the mile run in 4:47.76 and Jeff Sahli took 18^th in the 5,000-meter run in 17:34.41.

The Tiger track team returns to action Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1, when they travel to Storm Lake, Iowa, for the Buena Vista Invite.