ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's and women's track and field teams will wrap up their conference seasons this weekend as they compete at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Minnesota Duluth on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. 

Thursday's events will begin at 1 p.m., consisting entirely of events from the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. Friday's events will start at 9 a.m. while Saturday's action will get going at 10 a.m. 

LAST YEAR'S NSIC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 
At last season's NSIC Outdoor Championships, the Golden Bears claimed four individual conference championships as Arika Harbo won the heptathlon and high jump while Calder Erick won the decathlon and Owen Erickson won the 10000m. The Golden Bear men and women each finished the meet in sixth place. 

Harbo carried the load on the women's side as she collected 23.5 of the team's 26.5 points on day two, winning both the heptathlon and the high jump and tying for fifth in the long jump.

The big highlight came in the heptathlon as she made history by breaking the NSIC Championship record with 5354 points. The record was held by Golden Bear alum Kalle Burney, who put up 5323 points in 2018. In the final three events on Friday, Harbo finished inside the top five in all three, taking second in the javelin, fourth in the 800m and fifth in the long jump.

She followed up that performance with a mark of 18' 10.75" in the long jump to earn 3.5 more points before finishing with her second conference crown of the day in the high jump. In the high jump, her mark of 5' 7.25" secured the top spot to put the bow on an impressive day.

The Golden Bears lived up to their reputation as a dominant force in the multi-event category as Erick took home first in the decathlon after a strong day two. Entering the day 20 points out of the top spot, he wasted little time moving up to first as he started the day with a win in the 110m hurdles. Like Harbo, Erick showed his consistency as he ranked fourth or better in all five events on the day as he added second-place results in the discus and javelin as well as fourth-place finishes in the pole vault and 1500m. His total of 6613 points was comfortably a PR as he improved on his NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Joining Erick in the points in the decathlon were Jeffrey Odamtten and Will Hugo as Odamtten grabbed sixth place and three points while Hugo took seventh for two points for the team.

Erickson had a special day of his own as he paced the field in the 10000m with a time of 31:32.80, eclipsing Augustana's Brady Hogan by 3.3 seconds to earn the crown. His mark broke Caleb Troe's school record of 31:34.58 set in 2018.

Erickson wasn't the only CSP distance runner to score points as Matt Krummel earned two points and Ethan Blischke earned one point, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 3000m steeplechase.

Esther Mensah rounded out the scoring for the women as she cruised to a sixth-place finish in the hammer throw as she cleared 162' 8".

NSIC LEADERBOARD
Heading into the conference championships, several Golden Bears rank in the top 10 in their respective events on the conference leaderboard.

For the Concordia women, junior Maya Lavendusky's school record shot put mark of 13.75 meters (45' 1.5") ranks as the fourth farthest in the NSIC so far this season.

Freshman Bernie Barnhardt also ranks highly in the throws, sitting sixth in the hammer throw with a mark of 50.72 meters (166' 5"). 

Sophomore Cadence Tanner ranks 10th in the NSIC in the long jump with a leap of 5.87 meters (19' 3.25"). That mark set a new school record and is an NCAA provisional qualifier.

Fellow sophomore Mehlayna Straub ranks highly on the heptathlon leaderboard, recording an NCAA provisional qualifying score of 4714 points at the Meet of Champions to rank sixth in the NSIC.

For the Concordia men, senior Calder Erick holds the highest individual rank in any event as he leads the conference in the decathlon with a NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 6918 points. Erick also cracked the top 10 in the 400-meter hurdles, sitting 10th with a time of 54.87 seconds. 

Will Hugo and Jeffrey Odamtten also sit in the top 10 in the decathlon, ranking fourth and fifth, respectively.

Senior Matt Krummel sits fourth in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:21.72 at the Gary Wilson Invite, setting a new record in the event. Junior Ethan Blischke also ranks seventh in the steeplechase with a time of 9:47.29

Junior thrower Dan Otto ranks in the top four in a pair of events, sitting third in the shot put with a mark of 16.62 meters and fourth in the discus with a mark of 52.09 meters. His top distances in each event are also both NCAA provisional qualifying marks.

Senior Emmett Faltesek also sits second in the conference in the 1500-meter run with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:48.09 set at the Meet of the UnSaintly. Fellow distance runner Will Sacay ranks eighth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:48.92.

In the 10,000-meter run, sophomore Andrew Alexander ranks third with a time of 31:55.55 while freshman Travis Tock sits sixth with a time of 33:42.82. 

Drake Daniels still ranks in the top 10 in the 110-meter hurdles, sitting in eighth with a time of 14.64 seconds.

In the 400-meter run, freshman Del Johnson currently sits third with a time of 47.70 seconds set at the Meet of the UnSaintly.