Northfield, MN -- Saturday, the North Central University (NCU) Track and Field teams competed at the Meet of the Hearts Meet hosted by Carleton College. Today's meet was highlighted by another record-breaking performance from sophomore Josh Hinson, shattering the indoor men's 800m school record with a personal-best performance. The Rams also saw multiple personal records across the sprints, jumps, throws, and distance events.

Sprints:

Junior Deshawna Hodges led the Rams in the 200m dash, clocking a 28.73 to place 17th overall. Sophomore Lily Ciske added a 30.03-second finish in the same event, placing 34th overall as she continued to contribute across multiple disciplines for North Central.

Junior Zak Ruhland turned in a strong showing in the 200m dash, posting an indoor personal-best of 24.18 seconds to finish 14th overall. Freshman Owen Ellefson also recorded a PR of 26.73 seconds, placing 36th in the event and continuing his development on the track.

Distance:

Freshman Claire Nelsen represented the Rams in the mile, crossing the line in 6:40.02 to finish 27th overall in a competitive field.

The men's distance group was headlined by sophomore Josh Hinson, who delivered a historic performance in the 800m. Hinson placed 2nd overall with a personal-best time of 2:04.37 (4th in UMAC), breaking the NCU indoor men's 800m school record in the process. Junior David Bjorge competed in the 3000m, finishing in 11:11.17, while sophomore Leighton Helander ran 4:59.44 in the mile as the Rams continued to build depth in the mid-distance and distance events.

Throws:

Freshman Abi Rogers competed in the shot put, recording a personal-best mark of 6.45m to place 30th overall.

Senior Andre Muteba led the way in the throws. Muteba recorded a personal-best 12.22m in the weight throw to finish 14th overall (6th in UMAC). He also added a 10.49m mark in the shot put, placing 18th as he competed in both throwing events for the Rams.

Jumps:

Sophomore Lily Ciske competed in both horizontal jumps, posting a 9.29m mark in the triple jump to place 13th overall. She also added a 4.10m effort in the long jump, finishing in 21st place.

Junior Zak Ruhland highlighted the men's jumps with another personal-best clearance of 1.88m in the high jump (2nd in UMAC), earning a 3rd-place finish in the event. His podium finish marked one of the top field performances of the meet for North Central.

Relays:

The men's 4x400m relay squad of freshman Owen Ellefson, sophomore Josh Hinson, freshman Emmanuel Benitez, and freshman Michael Dagher combined to run 3:51.94 (3rd in UMAC), finishing 9th overall to close out the meet on the track.

Looking Ahead:

Up next, the Rams continue their indoor season at the Snowshoe Open on Friday, February 20th. The meet, hosted by the University of Minnesota, will take place inside the Minnesota Fieldhouse in Minneapolis, MN. 

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on track and field and all things NCU Athletics.