VERMILLION SD – On the opening day of the Summit League Outdoor Championships at the Lillibridge Track Complex on Thursday, North Dakota earned two gold medals and a silver medal. The Fighting Hawks also placed 11 times at the meet, broke a pair of school records, shattered a conference meet record and posted seven upgrades to the UND top-10 list.

Kenna Curry captured the gold medal, earned All-Summit League accolades, broke the school record and shattered the Summit League Outdoor Championships record in the hammer throw with a personal-best toss of 223-1 (68.01m). Her throw broke the school record of Molli Detloff, who set it at 222-11 (67.94m) at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Curry’s throw also bettered the conference meet record mark of 217-6 (66.29m), which was set by Maddy Niles of North Dakota State in 2022. Curry continues to rank No. 6 in the NCAA in the event.

In the final event on the track, Jadyn Keeler ran away from the field in the 10,000 meters, gained the gold medal and All-Summit League status with a time of 35:32.01. She finished over 28 seconds faster than everyone else in the race. Teammate Eliana Malnourie scored the final two points of the day for the UND women and placed seventh in 36:40.82.

Ethan Thomas was the first Fighting Hawk to medal at the meet and earned the silver and All-Summit League honors in the javelin with a throw of 201-10 (61.53m). With his throw, he set a PR and climbed from No. 8 to No. 5 on the UND top-10 list.

Justina Esangbedo scored the first points of the meet for North Dakota and placed fourth in the women’s javelin with a personal-best mark of 141-11 (43.26m), which was good for No. 7 on the UND top-10 list. Abby McNeil also made finals and was seventh with a PR throw of 133-4 (40.65m).

Trenton Hanseder and Carter Byron were in the javelin with Thomas and combined to add seven points for the UND men. Hanseder placed fifth with a personal-best throw of 180-4 (54.97m), while Byron took sixth with a PR of 175-8 (53.55m).

Julia Matthews and Kaylynn Red Tomahawk were also in the hammer throw with Curry, which gave the Hawks 13 points in that event. Matthews finished seventh with a mark of 179-3 (54.64m). Red Tomahawk placed eighth with a throw of 174-4 (53.14m).

Marta Marksa finished seventh in the long jump with a leap of 18-8 (5.69m).

Through the first four heptathlon events, Malene Kollberg leads all heptathletes with 3,264 points. Teammate Eucabeth Kivikangas trails Kollberg by just 136 points and is second with 3,128 points. Tiffanie Magnusson currently sits fourth with 3,049 points.

Kollberg has led the entire way of the heptathlon so far and had the top marks of all heptathletes in the competition in both the 100-meter hurdles (14.19) and high jump (5-6 1/2, 1.69m). Kollberg’s clearance in the high jump was a PR and tied the No. 9 height on the UND top-10 list. She closed out the day with the sixth-best throw in the shot put (35-4 3/4, 10.79m) and the third-fastest time in the 200 meters (24.98). Kollberg’s event-high point total came in the 100-meter hurdles, where she picked up 952 points.

Kivikangas had a scrappy performance in the heptathlon high jump, where she cleared the bar on her third attempt on five-straight heights and tied for the fourth-best clearance of the group with a PR of 5-1 3/4 (1.57m). Her best event was the shot put, where she had the second-best toss of the heptathletes with a throw of 41-10 3/4 (12.77m). Kivikangas ended the day with a personal-best time of 25.29 in the 200 meters for an event-high 860 points.

Magnusson’s best heptathlon event of day one was the high jump, where she posted the second-best height with a clearance of 5-5 1/4 (1.66m). She earned an event-high 888 points in the 100-meter hurdles to begin the day with a time of 14.65.

Towards the end of the meet, four Fighting Hawks qualified for the finals in their respective events.

Jerzie Finstad automatically qualified for the 200-meter final and broke the school record while winning her heat with a personal-best time of 23.74. She broke the program record of Natasha Brown, who set it at 23.86 at the 2016 Big Sky Outdoor Championships.

In the men’s 200-meter prelims, Jory Vasek earned the final qualifying spot with a personal-best time of 21.28. With that PR, he moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 in school history.

Marksa and Kimberly Hitchen both qualified for the 400-meter hurdles final with times of 60.44 and 60.91, respectively. Hitchen’s time tied the No. 3 mark on the UND top-10 list.

At the end of day one of the conference meet, North Dakota sits third in both team scores. The women have 34 points through five scored events, while the men have 15 points through three scored events.

North Dakota will continue competition at the Summit League Outdoor Championships on Friday. The heptathlon will resume at 12:30 p.m., followed by field events at 2 p.m. and preliminary rounds on the track opening at 4 p.m. The finals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase will also take place on Friday evening and will begin at 5:45 p.m. Live results will continue to be provided by Dakota Timing. Portions of the meet will also be live streamed on The Summit League Network.