The Northern State track and field squads geared up for the upcoming Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference meet with the USD Tune-up.

In the final regular season meet of the year, Wolves got the opportunity to improve their times at the USD Tune-Up last Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, Carson Barnett was the only event winner with a 61.39m throw in the javelin. Renea Taylor hit a new season-best in the 400m hurdles, but is still chasing the provisional mark. Jeff Boschee, Jonathan Burkhalter and Luke Campbell also recorded personal bests on Friday.

On Saturday, Chris Weber took home the only gold in the 100m running a time of 10.46 seconds. Sam Tremelling broke his own record in the pole vault with a 5.05m jump taking 4th. In total, the Wolves tallied 13 top 15 finishes on day two from the USD Tune-Up.

Wolves baseball finished off the year with a series win over Minnesota Crookston Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the Wolves took both games 9-7 and 20-9, but lost the final game 13-3 on Saturday.

Drew Benson got the Wolves on the board early with a 2-run home run in the top of the first, and NSU extended its lead to 3-0 with an RBI single from Jordan Hull in the second. Crookston went on to score five unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings to gain a 5-3 lead.

The Wolves tied the game in the fifth as Nick Friedges had an RBI triple that was followed by a Benson RBI single. However, UMC regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Phillips put the Wolves back on top with a two-run triple, but Crookston tied the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth.

The Wolves finally took control for good with two runs in the top of the seventh, as Nick Ochoa tripled driving in Casey Vining, followed by a double from Jonah Schmidt scoring Ochoa. Daulton Vanderloo came in to save the game and shut the Golden Eagles down for the final three outs.

In game two, the Wolves hot bats carried over as they plated two runs in the first, and then Jack Weidner hit a bases-clearing double for an early 5-0 lead. Crookston clawed back with three runs in the second, before the Wolves doubled that with six more runs in the fourth inning taking an 11-3 lead.

The Golden Eagles tagged on one more run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Wolves kept stretching their lead with a two-run double from Friedges in the fifth, and another RBI single from Friedges in the seventh. Ochoa found home on a passed ball, Weidner brought Friedges in on an RBI single, and Hull brought Weidner in on an RBI double for a 17-4 lead. The Wolves closed out their seven-run seventh inning with Vining scoring on a fielder’s choice, Hull coming in on a wild pitch, and a Phillips RBI double. With a 20-4 lead going into the final inning, Crookston was only able to score five as the Wolves swept day one.

In the final game of the season, the momentum wore off as Crookston scored one in the third, five in the fourth, and seven in the eighth. With the Wolves down 6-0, they cut the Crookston lead in half with three runs in the fifth. Phillips grounded out to shortstop, scoring Michael Benevides. Xander Paar scored on an error from the third baseman, and Ochoa singled in Mateo Tahsini, but that was all the offense produced in game three.

Northern State had two members make the all-conference squad. Nick Friedges and Brennan Phillips earned second team recognition, being the only two Wolves to start in all 47 games. Friedges hit .311, with a team high nine home runs, 40 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Phillips held a .317 batting average with 52 hits and caught 17 runners stealing from behind the dish.

The Wolves track and field teams will compete in the NSIC Outdoor Championships in Duluth today through Saturday. A total of seven NSU women go into the championships ranked in the top 10, with 16 of the men ranked in the top 10, including first-place rankings from Sam Tremelling in the pole vault and Carson Barnett in the javelin. So far eight Wolves have hit national provisional marks, with eight outdoor school records being broken this season.