NKU Sports Notebook: Norse track and field squad set for Oliver Nikoloff Invitational action


The Northern Kentucky University track and field squads return to action Friday and Saturday at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational hosted by the University of Cincinnati.

“The spring meets are usually unpredictable, mostly because of the weather, ” head track and field coach Steve Kruse said. “It’s going to be a mixed bag of weather and it’s going to be a mixed bag of competition from a team’s best runners to athletes they’re trying to develop. We’ve got 95 percent of our team going at it this week.”

The men’s and women’s teams got off to a strong start to the outdoor season in the team’s first meet at Coastal Carolina. For the men, distance runners and throwers led the way. Thrower Danny Keller earned Atlantic Sun Conference Field Athlete of the Week honors for his efforts in the shot put, discus, hammer and javelin. This week, with the full team set to compete, the Norse look to go full force into competition.

The Northern Kentucky University track and field squads return to action Friday and Saturday at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational hosted by the University of Cincinnati
The Northern Kentucky University track and field squads return to action Friday and Saturday at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational hosted by the University of Cincinnati

“We have a very good idea where we are with the men’s squad when it comes to competition,” Kruse said. “Now with moving outdoors and mixing it up with the weather and with some teams we have not seen for a while, it’s going to be a test. I’m expecting a lot of personal-bests to come this weekend.”

In their first meet of the season, the women’s squad saw several athletes competing in new events, many of which the athletes were not accustomed to. This week, they’ll settle in to their normal modes of competition as they look to challenge what will be an unpredictable field at UC.

“The spring break meet was fun and that was the whole idea,” Kruse said. “Now we are getting back to business mode. We want to put our best foot forward here. This will help develop our team that we will take to Tennessee in a few weeks that will be a large and important meet for us. Most of our athletes are from within an hour’s drive of Cincinnati. We should have a big crowd on hand to cheer us on, so we really want to do well.”

This meet will also be team scored as will NKU’s next meet at Miami (Ohio) on April 4. The added component of scoring will help give the Norse a different feel for competition they normally do not see until the conference championship.

“With indoor we only did two team-scored meets,” Kruse said. “The team scoring of meets is something I drastically miss. When I competed in college almost every meet we went to was scored. In high school they are typically scored. Now you get to college and you have huge open and invitation meets but little team scoring, and you lose a little of that team feeling. Scoring gets everybody into it and for me that is what track and field is all about. We’re excited that it’s a scored meet.”

The meet begins on Friday at 11:30 a.m. with the decathlon, heptathlon, hammer throw (men’s and women’s), 4 x 1,500m relay (men’s and women’s) and 10,000m (men’s and women’s) on tap. The meet will resume on Saturday at 9 a.m. with the completion of the decathlon and heptathlon followed by at full slate of track and field events.

NKU baseball faces Xavier

The Northern Kentucky University baseball team faces local rival Xavier for a three-game series this weekend with the first two games held at Hayden Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the finale played at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.

Friday’s first pitch from Xavier’s campus is scheduled for 3 p.m. with a 1 p.m. start time the following day. Sunday’s series finale is slated for 3 p.m. as well. Links to live stats for each contest and John Asalon’s audio broadcast for Friday and Saturday are available at NKUNorse.com. Sunday’s contest will be available for viewing on ASun.TV. Fans can also track each game’s progress by following @NKUNorseGameDay on Twitter.

NKU moved to 6-14 overall after splitting a pair of midweek games at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex. The Norse scored three runs in the first inning and four in the seventh for an 8-3 victory over Morehead State on Tuesday before Wright State came from behind to defeat NKU, 15-9, on Wednesday.

Cole Bauml went 4-for-9 from the plate with one double and one home run to lead the Norse in midweek action, and he drove two runs, scored three times and stole one base. Kyle Colletta and Cody Kuzniczci each recorded three hits as Colletta batted in three runs and Kuzniczci scored twice over the two games.

Matt Jefferson had a solid outing on the mound for NKU, allowing two runs on seven hits in six innings of work in Tuesday’s start. He struck out three batters and walked three.

UP NEXT: NKU begins a four-game road trip on Tuesday, March 31 as the Norse travel to Richmond, Kentucky, for a 6 p.m. contest against Eastern Kentucky. The team then travels to Jacksonville, Florida, to open Atlantic Sun Conference action at North Florida, which begins Thursday at 6 p.m. Friday’s action is also scheduled for 6 p.m. and Saturday is set for a 1 p.m. start time. Links to live stats and John Asalon’s audio broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.

From NKU Athletics


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