BISMARCK, ND – Brendon Hoyte and Akil Howell battled for supremacy in the sprints and Hayden Von Wald posted a big effort in the jumps to headline the University of Mary men's indoor track & field 2022-23 season opener. Competing on their home track in the Marauders Opener, all three generated NCAA qualifying marks.
 
Hoyte and Howell finished 1-2 in the finals of the 600 meter dash and were separated by just .01 of a second. Hoyte claimed first in a clocking of 6.84 seconds. Right behind was Howell with a time of 6.85 seconds.
 
Both their marks are NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the 60. Hoyte currently ranks 11^th and Howell is 12th in the country.
 
Hoyte was one of a trio of double event winners on the day as he also claimed the 200 meter dash title (22.16 seconds).
 
Von Wald started the season off in exciting fashion with an NCAA qualifying effort in the long jump. On his third attempt of the day, Wald sailed 7.14 meters for the win. He currently owns the 19^th best mark in NCAA Division II.
 
He also won the triple jump after posting a mark of 12.63 meters.
 
Several other Marauders also had top marks on the day in the seven team meet:

• Dawson Strom won both the 3000 meter run (8:55.22) and the 500 meter run (15:17.11) by comfortable margins in each, taking the 3k by over five seconds and the 5K by over 36 seconds
• Malakhi Stevenson topped the heptathlon chart with a total of 4,248 points
• Jorgen Paulson was the runner-up to Hoyt in the 200 (22.23 seconds). He was third in the 60 (6.95 seconds).
• Joseph Patchen-Mills won the 600 meter run (1:24.80) by just over a second
• Justin Smith captured the mile run by over 10 seconds with a time of 4:28.47
• Dillan Kovash placed first in the pole vault (4.30 meters)

 
After some down time for final exams and Christmas, UMary returns to action January 14 when the Marauders host the Mike Thorson Open.
 
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