This week’s edition of Lots O’ Stuff is brought to you by Red Owl Food Stores.
Our Memorial Day weekend edition of Lots O’ Stuff contains information about a couple of local graduates who competed in the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Alabama this week and something cool that happened at a high school baseball game in Shakopee.
Tordsen all-American
Fairmont graduate Conner Tordsen earned all-American honors in one event and narrowly missed in a second at the NAIA Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.
A senior at Dakota State, Tordsen placed seventh in the hammer throw and ninth in the discus.
In the hammer, Tordsen threw 190 feet, 2 inches on his first attempt, while fouling on the second toss. He advanced to the finals after throwing 190-10.
Tordsen continued to improve his mark as he opened the final round with 191-0, followed by 194-10 on his second throw. He earned a seventh-place finish after tossing 195-3 on his final attempt.
He is the first DSU hammer thrower to earn all-America honors in program history and only the second thrower overall. Tyler Lems did it twice in the discus throw in 2018 and 2019.
Tordsen also competed in the discus at the national meet for the second time.
He had an effort of 152-8 on his first attempt, and improved to 162 on his second toss. Tordsen added a toss of 158-8 on his third attempt and advanced to the final round.
In the finals he had throws of 149-6, 158-9 and 156-11. Tordsen was less than three inches from earning all-American honors in the discus.
Cora Olson
Martin County West grad Cora Olson also competed in the NAIA meet in Alabama this week.
A junior at Concordia University in Seward, Neb., Olson anchored the Bulldogs’ women’s 4x100-meter relay team.
The team had a time of 47.8 seconds to finish second in its heat and 17th out of 39 qualifiers. The top eight made the finals.
Sunday smile
ICYMI, the start of the Shakopee-Coon Rapids game the other day was pretty cool.