Christenson wins heptathlon for Beavers at St. John’s Invitational

Four student-athletes wrapped up Bemidji State University outdoor track & field’s weekend of action in the heptathlon as senior Libby Christenson brought home a win in the event. All four athletes who competed set personal record marks in the event hosted by St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.

Christenson totaled an event-winning score of 4,050, which ranks third in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and 15th in the NCAA Division II Central Region this season, followed by fellow senior Aneesa Tucker with a score of 3,968. Freshman Emily Curtice finished fourth with a total of 3,710 while fellow freshman Natalie Fultz took ninth with 3,237 points. This event was the first in the careers of Christenson, Curtice and Fultz while Tucker topped her previous personal record by 478 points.

Curtice and Tucker each won two events within the heptathlon, including the shot put (10.19 meters/33-feet-05.25-inches) and the javelin (35.07m/115-00) for Curtice and the long jump (5.08m/16-08.00) and the 800m run (2:26.88) for Tucker. While Christenson only won the high jump (1.60m/5-03.00), she finished within the top three of five of the seven heptathlon events.

The group of four student-athletes set 19 personal record marks within the heptathlon’s seven events.

Closing out the activity from Friday night at the St. John’s Invitational was the high jump, in which freshman Rylie Bjerklie won with a leap of 1.55m (5-01.00). She tied a personal record in the event while junior Reygan Brown took fifth with a mark of 1.45m (4-09.00).

BSU heads to Winona this weekend.