HOUSTON, Texas – The men’s track and field team wrapped up their schedule Saturday in the final day of competition at the Great West Conference Outdoor Championships. The UND men claimed a seventh place team finish at the meet, which was hosted by Houston Baptist University and held at the Rice University Track and Field Stadium in Houston.

Chris Stoks (Fr., Virginia, Minn.) ran the 400-meter dash in a time of :48.71, earning him a second place finish in the event. Grand Forks native Mark Barclay finished the race in a time of :50.35 for sixth place.

Josh LaBlanc (Jr., International Falls, Minn.) ran to a fourth place finish in the 5,000-meter run with his time of 15:16.59. Newcomer Tyler Rose (Brainerd, Minn.) finished the race in a time of 16:16.82 for 14th place while senior Kyle Downs (Hibbing, Minn.) took 18th (17:19.88).

Downs (Hibbing, Minn.) later ran the 1,500-meter race in a time of 4:09.66, capturing 12th place in the event while Rose took 13th (4:11.59) and Cory Absey (So., Grand Forks, N.D.) finished 15th (4:20.04).

The Fighting Sioux earned two top ten finishes in the 800-meter run on Saturday. Kyle Rosseau (Jr., Eagan, Minn.) ran the race in a time of 1:58.41 for ninth place while senior Jeremy Jones (Grand Forks, N.D.) finished the race less than a second later for a 10th place finish.

Grand Forks native Matt Elbert took seventh place in the 400-meter hurdles with his time of :58.30.

The Fighting Sioux 4x400 meter relay of Stoks, Rosseau, Elbert and Barclay finished the race in a time of 3:23.19 to take fourth place while the 4x100 meter relay of Barclay, Stoks, Elbert and Brandon Uehran (Jr., Brookings, S.D.) earned a fifth place finish with their combined time of :43.70.

Nicholas Wilkens (Jr., Bismarck, N.D.) took eighth place in the triple jump (13.09 meters) before tying for tenth place in the high jump with his leap of 1.85 meters. Uehran took 11th in the triple jump (12.30 meters).

Four UND athletes broke the top 15 in the discus throw on Saturday. Junior Travis Schultz (Lakeville, Minn.) led the way with his fifth place finish of 43.51 meters. Daniel Sjarpe (Fr., Lanesboro, Minn.) claimed 12th place with a throw of 36.44 while Rusty Kjos (Sr., Kenmare, N.D.) took 14th (35.57 meters) and Spencer Moe (Fr., Aloha, Ore.) finished 15th (33.15 meters).

NOTE: The meet featured seven participating teams: Chicago State, North Dakota, University of Texas-Pan America, Utah Valley, Houston Baptist University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and South Dakota.

###

Men – Final Team Rankings

1. Utah Valley                            224.50

2. South Dakota                         208.50

3. Houston Baptist                     116

4. Texas-Pan American              88

5. Chicago State                        61

6. New Jersey Tech.                   56

7. North Dakota                        54