Nick Moran took first place in the hammer throw at Saturday's Hamline University Invitational in St. Paul, Minn., and highlighted a number of strong performances for the University of Minnesota Duluth in its second meet of the young 2015 outdoor season.

Moran, a senior team captain from Monticello, Minn., outclassed a field of 44 competitors with a NCAA Division II provisional-qualifying toss of 55.65 meters (the best mark in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference to date). Besides Moran, the Bulldogs received top six finishes from junior Drew Johnson (2nd place; 9:44.01) and freshman Blake Anderson (4th; 10:17.71) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, freshman Connor Behm in the 200-meter dash (3rd; 22.39), sophomore Jason Lilja in the high jump (3rd; 1.98 meters), senior team captain Phil d'Entremont in the 800-meter run (4th; 1:54.48) and senior Jacob Nelson in the 100-meter dash (6th; 11.14).

Behm and d'Entremont also teamed up with freshmen Darrick Jackson and Garrett Benz to finish second in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 3:20.99. That's the fastest clocking turned in by any NSIC unit in 2015 as was d'Entremont's 1:54.48 effort inthe 800-meter run.

In addition, at the College of St. Benedict-Saint John's University Decathlon., which wrapped up Sunday in Collegeville, Minn., UMD junior James Ryan captured top honors with a career-best 5,884 points. In a field of 14 entrants, Ryan placed first in four of ten events --  the 100-meter dash, the long jump, the 400-meter dash and the 110-meter hurdles. His teammate, senior Brooks Zamzow was sixth (5,308 pts.) while freshman Logan Rubeck finished 10th (4,872 pts).
 

UMD will return to St. Paul next Saturday to compete in Concordia University-St. Paul's Holst Invitational.

2015 Hamline University Results

2015 CSB-SJU Decathlon Results