UND Track Set for Outdoor Season

North Dakota State topped the women’s poll with 49 points and seven first-place votes while South Dakota picked up the remaining first place vote and 41 points. The Fighting Hawks rounded out the top three with 35 points.

Over in the men’s pole, North Dakota State led the way with 36 points and six first-place votes as South Dakota State followed in second place with 29 points. South Dakota rounded out the top three with 28 points as the last remaining first-place vote before North Dakota tied with St. Thomas for fourth with 15 points.

Just a season ago, Fanucchi scored for North Dakota at the conference meet in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase with his fourth-place finish. He also added in personal bests in that same event—finishing first at the USD Tune Up—and the 1500m run out at the Bryan Clay Invitational. During his first indoor season that just concluded in February, Fanucchi dominated for four broken school records, four total first-place finishes, and two medals at the conference meet after winning the mile run and taking runner-up in the 3000-meter run. He tallied two All-Summit League performances, scored in three different events for UND and earned the distinction of Summit League Men’s Track MVP of the Championship.

Keeler looks to conclude her career at North Dakota in electric fashion following a recent indoor season for the record books. She earned Second Team All-America status in the women’s 5000-meter run at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships just two weeks ago, repeating the honor she initially collected a season ago with her time of 15:40.81 for a 12th place finish. Keeler also collected a second consecutive triple crown during competition at the Summit League Indoor Track and Field Championships, repeating as a gold medalist in the mile run (4:39.69), 3000-meter run (9:19.62) and 5000-meter run (15:56.90) to secure another trio of All-Summit League performances.

The domination also carries over for the senior from last season’s outdoor competition. Keeler collected personal bests in the 1500-meter and 10,000-meter runs before putting on a show at the conference championship meet. She walked away with two gold medals in the 5000-meter and 10,000-meter events before taking a silver medal in the 1500-meter run. Keeler earned bids to the NCAA DI West First Round in the 5000 and 10,000-meter events before moving on to the NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 10,000-meter run, where she finished 16th overall in 32:59.12.

After claiming a silver medal at the indoor conference championships in the weight throw, Matthews looks to capitalize on that momentum in the outdoor competition. Her recent indoor season was highlighted by 11 top-three finishes alongside two new personal bests in the shot put and weight throw while last year’s outdoor season ended with five top-three finishes. The junior scored for North Dakota in both the hammer throw and shot put at the 2025 conference championships and tallied a new personal-best in the hammer throw with a mark of 180-3 (54.94m) at the NDSU Tune-Up.

Zierden has already kicked off outdoor competition for North Dakota, even tallying a new personal best in the 100-meter dash despite being primarily a field athlete. The sophomore collected a sixth-place finish in the long jump at the recent indoor conference championships with his mark of 23-7 1/4 (7.19m), but his personal best mark in the event of 24-1 (7.34m) came during the outdoor conference championships a season ago. That mark also gave him a sixth-place finish after he also scored in the triple jump with a leap of 47-8 (14.53m) for seventh place. He tallied five top-five finishes during last season’s outdoor competition before adding four in during the latest indoor season, including an event win at the UND Tune Up.

North Dakota track and field will return to outdoor season competition with a pair of meets out in California at the Stanford Invitational and Triton Invitational on April 3 and 4.