ST. PAUL, Minn. – Starting the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Championships with a bang, University of Sioux Falls Track & Field won two events and broke a pair of school records in prelim races. Steven Brown captured the men's 10,000-meter title and Jacob Zebedee won his second NSIC championship in the men's pole vault while Mason Phillips and Teddy Frid each broke a USF record in their prelims. In total, USF will have five chances to compete in a final after the prelims today as well as field event finals and steeplechase, 5,000-meter runs and relays on Saturday at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
After day one, the USF men are in second place with 45 total points through seven events. The Sioux Falls women totaled 26.5 points on Friday and are in fourth heading to day two. Competition on Saturday will begin at 11 a.m. with field events and track events will begin at 1 p.m. Live video is available through Stretch Internet and live results can be found at NorthernSun.org/NSICODTF.
 
In the second event of the weekend, Brown turned in an impressive performance in the men's 10,000-meter run. The sophomore made his move with a little more than 3,000 meters to go and he never looked back. Despite the early heat in the day, Brown clocked a provisional qualifying 30:45.59 to capture his first conference title. Wyatt Johansen turned in a 34:51.58 for 14th place and John Noyes finished in 36:20.10 to finish 17th.
  The men's 10k had finished just as USF's host of vaulters were hitting their stride. With seven vaulters in the men's competition, USF was eyeing a big number of points for their team score. They accomplished just that as Zebedee captured his second conference title in the crosswind conditions. Zebedee was the only vaulter to clear 5.02 meters (16 feet-5.50 inches), which was the title-winning mark, but he wasn't alone on the podium. Jagger Gran followed in second with a 4.92-meter (16-1.75) clearance and saved his final attempt for a try at the conference record when Zebedee cleared his winning height, but Gran couldn't muster up the winning jump. Completing the 1-2-3 sweep, Chase Jensen tied for third by clearing 4.77 meters (15-7.75). Adding three more points to the team score, Sophomores Gavin DeHaai and Connor DeJong both cleared 4.47 meters (14-8.00) to tie for seventh. Luke Wuesthoff also cleared the 4.47 meters, but he was relegated to ninth based on the amount of previous missed attempts.
 
The Cougars continued to stack up points after they had already captured their first two titles. In the men's long jump, Evan Hagen placed seventh, recording a best mark of 6.87 meters (22-6.50). Jada Carr equaled her teammate's effort in the women's competition, placing seventh with a best leap of 5.60 meters (18-4.50). Joining Carr in competition, Clara Paul placed 21st (5.06m/16-7.25), Maggie Rauh finished 22nd (4.97m/16-3.75) and Mahli Strasser was 23rd (4.90m/16-1.00).
 
Over at the throws competition, Derrick Sheppard led the Cougar men with a pair of scoring finishes on Friday. In the hammer throw, Sheppard placed fifth at 51.34 meters (168-5) and was joined by Christian Gruschin in the finals after a 50.27-meter (164-11) prelim mark, but he finished ninth despite improving his No. 3 all-time mark in USF history. Later in the shot put, Sheppard placed eighth with a 14.64-meter (48-0.50) heave while Chandler Nelson (13.35m/43-9.75) and Gruschin (13.09m/42-11.50) finished 17th and 18th, respectively.
 
Continuing what can already qualify as a special season, Teddy Frid opened a busy weekend with four events on Friday. The South St. Paul, Minn. sophomore has eyes set on the NSIC Championship high point scorer title after capturing the NSIC decathlon title less than two weeks ago with a total score that broke the USF and NSIC records.
 
In his opening event on Friday, Frid didn't record a mark in the long jump, but that didn't stop him from moving to the high jump and tying for seventh with a 1.98-meter clearance. Moving over to the track, he really began to heat up as he posted two of the fastest times in program history. First in the 110-meter hurdles, Frid jumped up two spots to No. 2 in the USF record books with a 14.64-second time, which was the fastest in the field and advanced him into the finals. Closing his busy day, Frid tested his hand at the 400-meter hurdles despite not having a seed time. In his first effort of the season in this event, he broke the 17-year old school record and turned in the second-fastest time in the competition with a 54.35-second lap, which advances him to Saturday's finals. Frid will open competition with the javelin throw at 11 a.m., where he is seeded 15th in the field before competing in the finals of the 100- and 400-meter hurdles.
  Less than an hour before Frid capped off his day with a school record, Mason Phillips was the first to etch his name in the USF annals. For more than 20 years, Mark Blakely's USF men's 800-meter record of 1:52.69 held up, but that all changed when Phillips led a spirited charge, which earned him the top qualifying time for Saturday's finals. In the first heat, Phillips not only crushed his competition by nearly two seconds with a 1:52.53, but he helped pull teammate Zach Lundberg to a 1:54.41 time, which earned him a spot in the final. Lundberg won't just be running in the men's 800-meter final on Saturday as he also earned a spot in the loaded 1,500-meter field after a qualifying run of 4:26.28.
 
As action unfolded on the track, the USF women steadily stacked up a bundle of points in the pole vault, tying their men's teammates with five in the top eight of the competition. While they didn't' capture the individual title, USF did own the next four spots in the top five. Megan Muller and Hannah Linder both cleared 3.64 meters (11-11.25) to finish second and third, respectively, based on misses. Sydney Siekman earned her first points at a conference meet with a 3.49-meter (11-5.25) clearance to place fourth and fellow freshman Josie Spitz soared over 3.34 meters (10-11.50) to take fifth. A third freshman in the top eight for USF, Amy Muller added the final half-point for USF as she tied for eighth at 3.34 meters. Brenna Schmidt finished with a best clearance of 3.04 meters (9-11.75), which placed her in a tie for 15th.
 
Results from Friday's events not included above are listed below.

Women's 100-meter dash: Sarah Troescher, 15th, 12.44 seconds
Women's 800-meter run: Keegan Day, 15th, 2:23.54
Women's 1,500-meter run: Laura Kunz, 21st, 5:03.20
Women's 10,000-meter run: Kiana Hein, 9th, 40:10.90
               Tenley Schwartz, 12th, 41:04.66
               Jordin Kopplow, 16th, 41:52.59
Women's High Jump: Faith Voehl, T-21st, 1.51m/4-11.50
               Miranda Phipps: T-21st, 1.51m/4-11.50
Women's Shot Put: Haley Fockler, 17th, 11.75m/38-6.75
               Jaimie McNamee, 19th, 11.35m/37-3.00
Women's Hammer Throw: Haley Fockler, 22nd, 42.35m/138-11
               Jaimie McNamee: Kaimie McNamee, 32nd, 39.95m/131-1
Men's 100-meter dash: Jonathon Rowe, 13th, 10.92 seconds
Men's 400-meter dash: Tyler Slaba, 21st, 51.97 seconds
Men's 110-meter hurdles: Jacob Morse, 21st, 16.58 seconds
Men's Pole Vault: Tristan Zawadzki, T-1th, 4.17m/13-8.25