NorthDakota State

2017-18

B I S O N A T H L E T I C S Y E A R I N R E V I E W

THE TRADITION OF SUCCESS CONTINUED...

From our first year of athletics competition in 1894 we have experienced a long history of tradition and success on so many levels. For an athletic program that has been one of the most successful in all of college athletics, it is amazing to see that 124 years later we continue to achieve firsts and milestones today. This year we witnessed our 26th national championship, our 254th conference championship, our third Summit League Commissioner’s Cup, our first Division I men’s golf championship, and the first time in history that Team Makers generated revenue to support Bison Athletics in excess of $5.5 million.

Not to be outdone by all the athletic successes, our student-athletes continued to raise the bar academically and set a new standard for future Bison to strive toward. For the first time in our Division I history, all athletic teams reached a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater while also achieving our highest overall student-athlete GPA of 3.42. In addition, Daniel Polansky (football) and Clay Ream (wrestling) each received the Elite 90 award at their respective national championship for the highest GPA of all participants. This classroom success is preparing our student-athletes for their professional careers upon graduating from NDSU.

Our facility profile continued to be transformed with phase one completion of a new softball stadium and a short-game facility in the Sanford Health Athletic Complex for both golf programs. These new facilities, coupled with our recent enhancements and future projects, have paid dividends in training our student-athletes and providing new opportunities in recruiting.

All of the above success, accolades and progress is not surprising given the strategic investment in scholarships, facilities, operations and personnel. The power of Bison Nation has been witnessed on so many levels, but none more important than the financial support of our athletics program. This investment and belief in our program is the driving force behind our pursuit of excellence and the development of our student-athletes. As we celebrate this past year, we look to your continued support as we strive for new milestones next year. The following pages highlight what has been another outstanding year in NDSU Athletics. Please join us in recognizing all the athletic and academic accomplishments of 2017-18. Thank you in advance for your continued friendship, loyalty, pride and financial support.

Go Bison!

Matt Larsen Director of Athletics

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NDSU Athletics is in the fundraising stage for a new $37.2 million indoor football practice facility. The facility will be a full 120 yards long and 60 yards wide with a 70-foot height clearance over the field, and will open up to a second artificial turf field outdoors. The operational side of the building will include a locker room, team meeting room and sports medicine facilities, and the strength and performance center will include a weight room and fueling station.

Facilities

Facilities directly impact success. Three months after opening the new golf short-game facility within the Sanford Health Athletic Complex, NDSU won Summit League championships in both men’s and women’s golf. The facility includes contoured putting and chipping turf to simulate on-course play with 12 holes spread over a variety of flat and sloped conditions.

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Phase I of an $800,000 renovation to the Ellig Sports Complex softball facility was completed in time for the 2018 season with the addition of a new grandstand with chairback seats and protective netting, a press box and camera deck, sound system and scoreboard. Phase II began in June 2018 to install artificial turf, new fencing, a visiting team bullpen and additional seating.

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Football

Quarterback Easton Stick was voted Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA championship game and was named FCS National

Performer of the Year by the College Football Performance Awards. He passed for 2,466 yards and 28 touchdowns while also rushing for 663 yards and 12 TDs.

NDSU won its sixth NCAA Football Championship Subdivision national championship in seven years with a 17-13 victory over top-seeded defending champion James Madison in the title game.

It was NDSU’s 14th football national championship since 1965 and tied the FCS record of six national titles held by Georgia Southern.

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NDSU’s 106 wins during this decade are more than any other program in college football. NDSU is 97-8 since the beginning of 2011, its first of five straight national championship seasons.

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NDSU had seven FCS All-Americans, including first-team honors for right guard Austin Kuhnert, linebacker Nick DeLuca, long snapper James Fisher and safety Tre Dempsey. Running back Bruce Anderson and safety Robbie Grimsley were second-team All-Americans, and Jabril Cox was a Freshman All-American.

NDSU finished 14-1 overall and won its seventh straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship with a 7-1 record in league play.

NDSU led the FCS and set conference records with 79 total touchdowns and 48 rushing touchdowns. The Bison tied a school record with 581 points and 4,083 rushing yards. NDSU’s defense allowed only 237.4 yards and 11.6 points per game, ranking first and second in the FCS, respectively.

Junior safety Robbie Grimsley was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the second straight season. He and junior quarterback Easton Stick were named to the MVFC All-Academic Team for the second year in a row.

Chris Klieman was named MVFC Coach of the Year for the first time in his four seasons.

Linebacker Jabril Cox led the Bison with 75 tackles including 13.0 tackles for loss and was voted Missouri Valley Football Conference Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.

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NDSU advanced to the Summit League tournament semifinals and finished with a 19-9 record overall. NDSU went 9-5 in the league for fourth place during the regular season.

NDSU received its sixth consecutive American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award in recognition of their academic success for the 2017-18 season. It was NDSU’s 18th award overall.

volleyball

First-year head coach Jennifer Lopez was named an AVCA 2018 “Thirty Under 30” award winner. Lopez is NDSU’s second recipient since the award’s conception in 2009, joining then assis-tant coach Kari Thompson (2010).

Mikaela Purnell was Summit League Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season. She ranked fifth nationally with a school-record average of 6.06 digs per set and NDSU ranked sixth as a team with 19.02 digs per set.

All-Summit League setter Brianna Rasmusson was named to the Summit League Academic All-League Team and CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.

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Soccer

Three Bison were named All-Summit League. Junior Malley O’Brien was selected first-team all-league, while junior Hanna Norman was a second- team all-league honoree. Freshman Danielle Algera earned all-freshmen team accolades.

3 NDSU advanced to the Summit League championship match for the fifth time in program history after tying for second place with a 5-2 record in the regular season. NDSU was 8-11 overall, including a 7-2 home record at Dacotah Field.

Michael Regan, a former Division I assistant at Indiana and Drake, was introduced as the team’s fifth head coach in January. He replaced Mark Cook, who resigned after leading the Bison to two Summit League championships in his six seasons.

Senior Anna Reinholz and junior Malley

O'’Brien were voted to the Summit League Academic All-League Team.

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Cross Country

The NDSU women were led by an outstanding performance from freshman Kelby Anderson, who finished third overall with one of the top 6k times in NDSU history. Her time of 21:08.5 was the eighth-fastest 6k in NDSU history, trailing only six races by All-American Erin Teschuk and one by all-region performer Brecca Wahlund.

The NDSU men matched the team’s best conference meet finish since joining the league in 2007. Junior Elliott Stone, senior Brant Gilbertson and redshirt freshman Tim Heikkila all earned first-team All-Summit League honors by placing in the top seven overall.

2 The Bison men’s and women’s cross country teams both finished second at the Summit League Championships in late October.

Both squads earned their sixth consecutive All-Academic Team awards from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The women posted a 3.62 GPA in the fall and have had 14 consecutive semesters over 3.30. The men posted a 3.56 GPA in the fall, the eighth-best team GPA in Division I.

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Men'’s Basketball Senior A.J. Jacobson was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team for the second straight year, joining Brett Winkelman (2008-09) as the only NDSU men’s basketball players to earn the first-team distinction twice. Jacobson graduated with a 3.99 cumulative GPA in zoology (pre-dentistry) following his junior season and has a 4.00 GPA toward his MBA.

For the second consecutive season, the Bison

led The Summit League in attendance at home games. NDSU topped the league in both attendance categories - overall average and average for conference games.

605 Senior guard Paul Miller became the first Bison in NDSU’s Division I era to earn NABC All-District honors twice in his career. Miller finished the season with 605 points, becoming only the fifth Bison to score more than 600 in a season. His 1,719 career points rank fifth in NDSU history.

NDSU was the only Division I school in the country with two CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees this season, with seniors A.J. Jacobson and Paul Miller earning the honor.

Redshirt freshman Cameron Hunter was named to The Summit League’s All-Newcomer Team. Hunter averaged 10.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists in league play this season while shooting 47 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent at the free-throw line. He scored a season-high 35 points in NDSU’s road win over South Dakota.

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Women's Basketball

Guard Taylor Thunstedt ended her Bison career as the all-time leader in 3-pointers made (278) and attempted (741). She finished 12th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,395 career points.

Sophomore forward Rylee Nudell shot an impressive 53 percent (103 of 194) from the floor, ranking fourth in The Summit League.

Sophomore guard Sarah Jacobson led the team and ranked second in the league with 3.9 assists per game.

Sophomore forward Reilly Jacobson was named honorable mention All-Summit League. She led the Bison with 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting 84 percent from the free-throw line.

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Wrestling The Bison had a 7-10 record in dual meets, including wins over No. 12-ranked Cornell and No. 18-ranked Central Michigan. NDSU earned a No. 25 ranking in the national coaches poll for one week in January.

Clay Ream, a four-time NCAA national championship qualifier with a 3.977 GPA in biochemistry and molecular biology, was named the NCAA Elite 90 award winner for the third straight year. He also repeated as the Big 12 Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year and as a CoSIDA Academic All-American®.

NDSU placed fifth at the Big 12 championships led by runner-up performances by Clay Ream at 157 pounds and Andrew Fogarty at 165 pounds. Cam Sykora was fifth at 133, heavyweight Dan Stibral placed fifth and Paul Bianchi finished seventh at 125.

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Seven Bison wrestlers made the Academic All-Big 12 team led by first-team picks Clay Ream (157), Paul Bianchi (125), Dylan Urbach (174) and Dan Stibral (285). Second-team honorees were Nick Knutson (174/184), Tyler McNutt (184) and Cole Witzig (184).

NDSU ranked seventh in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Top 30 All-Academic team standings. Clay Ream, Paul Bianchi, Kyle Gliva and Dan Stibral each made the NWCA All-Academic Team.

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Men's Track and Field

The Bison men captured their ninth straight Summit League outdoor team title and their 10th in 11 years of league membership. NDSU is one of only four Division I schools to own current winning streaks of eight of more outdoor conference titles. NDSU also claimed the league’s indoor crown for the seventh time overall.

As a group, the Bison men ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in the shot put and hammer throw. The Bison were the only team in the nation with four athletes over 59 feet in the shot put, as well as being the only school in the country with four men beyond 60 meters in the hammer throw.

The Bison men set five new school records in 2017: Jonah Warwick in the 600 meters (1:18.22), Jake Leingang in the 5,000 meters (14:03.13), Payton Otterdahl in the shot put and discus throw (195-0), and Steffan Stroh in the hammer throw (224-10).

The NDSU women and men combined for 23 entries in the throwing events at the NCAA Prelims to lead the nation.

Junior Payton Otterdahl had the NCAA’s top mark in the outdoor shot put at 68 feet, 9-1/4 inches, nearly 4-1/2 feet better than his previous school record.

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woMen's Track and Field

With 19 entries at the NCAA Preliminary Rounds, the North Dakota State women were tied for the 20th-most in the nation. BYU (24 entries) was the only non-Power 5 school with more entries than the Bison women.

The Bison women had a nation-best 14 entries in the throwing events at the NCAA Prelims. No other women’s team in the country had more than 10.

The Bison women won their 11th consecutive Summit League indoor and outdoor team titles. NDSU has won all 22 Summit

League team championships since joining the league - the longest active streak in the nation.

The Bison women set three new outdoor school records in 2018: Courtney Pasiowitz in the shot put (54 feet, 3-1/4 inches), Maddy Nilles in the hammer throw (218-2) and Alyssa Olin in the javelin throw (191-6).

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softball

NDSU compiled a 34-19 overall record and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the ninth time in the past 10 years. NDSU won its eighth Summit League regular-season championship and ninth Summit League tournament title.

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NDSU reached the 30-win mark for the 11th time in 12 seasons under head coach Darren Mueller, who recorded his 600th career victory May 5 against Western Illinois.

The Bison have defeated at least one nationally ranked opponent in seven straight seasons, including a 1-0 win in nine innings at 10th-ranked LSU in 2018. NDSU has also won an NCAA tournament game in six straight appear-ances with a 5-4 victory over Mississippi State in the 2018 Tucson Regional.

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Summit League Pitcher of the Year Jacquelyn Sertic was named MVP of the league tournament after a dazzling performance that included her second-career no-hitter. Sertic was named

to the NFCA All-Midwest Region first team and second baseman Zoe Stavrou was all-region third team.

NDSU had five All-Summit League honorees, including first-team pitcher Jacquelyn Sertic and second baseman Zoe Stavrou. First baseman Vanessa Anderson, outfielder Bre Beatty and pitcher KK Leddy were named to the second team.

Eight Bison softball players were honored as NFCA Scholar-Athletes for their work in the classroom during the 2016-17 academic year. NDSU compiled a 3.476 team GPA and ranked 32nd nationally on the NFCA Division I All-Academic Team list.

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Baseball

Sophomore Riley Johnson pitched NDSU’s first solo no-hitter in 14 years, beating Central Connecticut State 2-0 in his second start of the season on Feb. 23. Johnson struck out eight and walked one.

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NDSU posted its ninth consecutive 20-win season finishing with a 26-24 overall record, including an 11-4 tally at home. The Bison finished third in The Summit League with a 15-13 record.

Senior relief pitcher Kevin Folman, senior outfielder Logan Busch and redshirt junior outfielder Jayse McLean were all named to the All-Summit League second team.

advanced to the Summit League tournament for the seventh time

in eight seasons. Blake Stockert fired a one-hit, complete-game shutout for NDSU in a 2-0 win over Western Illinois in the opening round.

Outfielder Jayse McLean graduated with a 4.0 in mechanical engineering and was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team, becoming the ninth Academic All-American® in baseball program history. McLean and pitcher Kevin Folman were both Academic All-League.

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Women's Golf

NDSU won the Summit League championship for the second time in program history and advanced to the NCAA regional tournament under 10th-year head coach Matt Johnson, the Summit League Coach of the Year.

Summit League Golfer of the Year Natalie Roth made the all-league first team for the third straight season. She won tournament titles at Omaha and Seattle, and tied for the league championship before losing a three-way playoff.

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NDSU tied a school record with five tournament wins during the season. The Bison established a new four-player team scoring record for the seventh time in eight seasons with a 302.68 average.

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Men's Golf

NDSU won its first Division I conference title, rallying in the final round of the Summit League championship to beat Denver by two shots and advance to the NCAA regional tournament.

The Bison won three tournaments under fourth-year head coach Steve Kennedy, who was named Summit League Coach of the Year. NDSU set a new four-player team scoring record with a 293.33 average.

Sophomore Andrew Israelson was selected to the All-Summit League first team, while senior Nick Myhre and freshman Van Holmgren garnered second-team honors. Holmgren was named Summit League Newcomer of the Year.

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Community Service

It was another successful Holiday Toy Drive for the NDSU SAAC in December. Members collected toys and cash during home basketball games, wrestling matches and the Bison Open indoor track meet. The donation was made to Youthworks of Fargo.

NDSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council helped open Fargo’s new Ronald McDonald House with a Bison-themed game room. SAAC representatives planned the space, selected games and decorations, and installed the furnishings that will be enjoyed by families during their stay.

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Academics

The NDSU men’s and women’s golf teams each earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards for posting academic progress ratings in the top 10 percent of their sports. It was the eighth honor for the NDSU women and the fifth for the men.

Wrestling, volleyball, softball, men’s basketball, soccer and women’s basketball all posted their highest-ever semester GPAs. The women’s golf team posted its highest semester GPA in 13 years.

Out of 383 student-athletes, 72 percent achieved a 3.0 GPA or better, and there were 80 student-athletes with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

NDSU track and field graduates Jonah Warwick and Allie (Lahren) Koth were among 58 student-athletes nationwide selected as NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships for the 2017-18 spring season. Warwick, a six-time All-Summit League sprinter, had a 3.993 GPA and will attend medical school. Koth, who earned three top-five league finishes in the long jump and triple jump, graduated with a 4.0 GPA and will attend dental school.

Student-athletes continue to achieve higher grades than the general student population at NDSU. Bison teams combined for a 3.437 GPA in the spring of 2018. For the first time ever, all 14 sport programs achieved a 3.0 team GPA or better.

3.437

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Green and Gold GalaThe fourth annual Green and Gold Gala was held May 3 at the Fargo Theatre with NBC North Dakota football television reporter Ryan Gellner as master of ceremonies. The event celebrates the success of the NDSU athletic programs and recognizes student-athletes for their athletic, academic and community service accomplishments

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEARHighest performing male student-athlete

Easton Stick, football

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEARHighest performing female student-athlete

Alyssa Olin, women’s track and field

MALE ROOKIE OF THE YEARHighest performing male student-athlete in first year of eligibility

Jabril Cox, football

FEMALE ROOKIE OF THE YEARHighest performing female student-athlete in first year of eligibility

Kelby Anderson, women’s cross country

MALE BISON PRIDE AWARDContribution to team’s success withholding on-field performance

Kevin Folman, baseball

FEMALE BISON PRIDE AWARDContribution to team’s success withholding on-field performance

Trisa Hutchinson, women’s golf

STUDENT-ATHLETE CHOICE AWARDNDSU athletics support staff member recognized for their contribution to student-athlete/team success

Pat Mattson, NDSU West Dining Center

BISON IMPACT AWARDMember of community that has made a significant impact on NDSU athletics in the last calendar year

Dr. Bruce Piatt, team physician

SAAC TEAM SERVICE AWARDAthletic team recognized for its outstanding community service

Women’s Golf

THUNDERING HERD FEMALE TEAM ACADEMIC AWARDWomen’s team with highest overall GPA for calendar year

Women’s Cross Country

THUNDERING HERD MALE TEAM ACADEMIC AWARDMen’s team with highest overall GPA for calendar year

Men’s Cross Country

PRESIDENTIAL MOST IMPROVED TEAM ACADEMIC AWARDTeam recognized by NDSU President for most improved GPA in calendar year

Women’s Golf

PRESIDENTIAL ACADEMIC TEAM AWARDTeam recognized by NDSU President for highest GPA in calendar year

Women’s Cross Country

NDSU does not discriminate in its programs and activities on the basis of age, color, gender expression/identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin,

participation in lawful off-campus activity, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, public assistance status, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, spousal relationship

to current employee, or veteran status, as applicable. Direct inquiries to: Vice Provost, Title IX/ADA Coordinator, Old Main 201, 701-231-7708, ndsu.eoaa@ndsu.edu.