Dendinger Crowned National Champion In Hammer Throw While Kalkowski Places 14th For Wildcat Men, Lahm Withdraws From Decathlon Due To Injury

Dendinger Crowned National Champion In Hammer Throw While Kalkowski Places 14th For Wildcat Men, Lahm Withdraws From Decathlon Due To Injury
Courtesy of Wayne State Athletics

CHARLOTTE, NC – Three Wayne State College athletes were in action Thursday during the 2018 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships during the hammer throw and decathlon.

Competition was held in Charlotte, North Carolina where Michaela Dendinger began her first of three throwing events. The graduate of Hartington Public HS (Coleridge) is now an eight-time All-American after she won the hammer throw with her top mark coming during her second throw in  prelims of 212’ 3”. She broke her own school record of 208’ 5” during last year’s NSIC Championships (May 17, 2017). This also marks her second national title (outdoor shot put in 2017).

Courtesy of Wayne State Athletics

Dendinger will next compete on Saturday, May 26 in the shot put to defend her title from last year at 10:15 a.m. and compete in the discus event at 3 p.m. She has the #1 throw in shot put and ranks sixth during the discus in NCAA Division II.

Also in action on Saturday are senior Kacie O’Connor from Sundance, Wyoming in the discus as well as sophomore Tia Jones from Elkhorn and freshman Jadin Wagner from Lawton, Iowa in the shot put.

On the men’s side, redshirt freshman Cade Kalkowski from Niobrara (Niobrara HS) was fourth in his flight and finished 14th out of 20 competitors in the hammer throw with a heave of 190’ 9”. Kalkowski entered nationals as the 20th and final qualifier and was the NSIC hammer throw champion May 12th in Winona, Minnesota at 190′ 10″.

Senior Derek Lahm from Columbus (Scotus Catholic HS), opened Thursday’s competition in the decathlon with a seventh place finish in the 100-meter dash at 11.20 seconds, but suffered an injury at the end of the race and was not able to compete in the long jump and other remaining events on the first day of the two-day, 10-event competition.

Lahm was the NSIC decathlon champion with a new school record point total of 6,951 points and entered the NCAA Division II nationals with the 13th-best regular season point total out of 16 qualifiers.

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