SEWARD, Neb. – The Northwestern College men's track and field team kicked off the 2021-22 indoor slate at the Concordia Early Bird Meet in Seward, Nebraska, hitting one provisional standard for the 2021-22 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Indoor Championships.

One man from the Red Raider track team has qualified for nationals after the Early Bird indoor track opening event in Seward, Nebraska. Ben Thelander (So., Lawton, Iowa/Lawton-Bronson) outperformed all but two other competitors with his third-place finish in the heptathlon posting a point total 4221, hitting the provisional mark for the 2021-22 NAIA Indoor Championships. He won the high jump in the heptathlon with a clearance of 1.93 meters.
 
Notable standouts from the Bulldog Early Bird Event in Seward feature a third-place finish in the 200m dash by freshman Kyler Vander Velde with a time of 22.75. James Gilbert Jr. (Jr., Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) continued his streak of high-level performances with a second-place result in the long jump (6.96m/22-10.00), and an impressive split to help the Raiders to a third-place finish in the 4X400m relay.
 
Northwestern's other top performers include:
Mitch Oostra (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) - 4^th place finish in the 400 Meter Dash with a time of 51.21
Cade Pedersen (Jr., Lawton, Iowa/Lawton-Bronson) - 4^th place result in the heptathlon with a score of 3569
Bryce Paulsen (Jr., Marshall, Minn./Marshall) - 5^th place finish in the 60 Meter Hurdles with a time of 8.70
 
Men 60 Meter Dash:
9. James Gilbert Jr.   
10. Daniel Strand      
 
Men 200 Meter Dash:
3. Kyler Vander Velde   22.76
7. Daniel Strand         23.01
10. Grant Palmer        23.58
 
Men 400 Meter Dash:
4. Mitch Oostra             51.21
6. Wyatt Pryor             51.87
7. Bryce Paulsen        52.33
 
Men 60 Meters Hurdles:
5. Bryce Paulsen        8.70
8. Benn Yol                 8.99

Men 4X400 Meter Relay:
3.         1) James Gilbert Jr.
            2) Mitch Oostra
            3) Mason Adams
            4) Wyatt Pryor
            (3:25.01)
 
Men Long Jump:
2. James Gilbert Jr.    6.96m/22-10.00
 
Men Heptathlon:
3. Ben Thelander       4221
        1^st in High Jump (1.93m)                  
4. Cade Pedersen      3569
 
Men Shot Put:
10. William Minnick        12.70m/41-08.00
 
Up Next: The Raiders will be back in action after the new year on Saturday, January 15 at the Dordt Indoor Open on the campus of Dordt University.