2018 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship |
Shot Put Results |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala (March 10, 2018) -
Sam Elsner captured the shot put title at the 2018 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Elsner entered the event as the top seed and lived up to the seed with a winning toss of 57-feet, 11.75-inches.
The Blue Devil senior, who finished second yesterday in the weight throw, finishes an inch and a half in front of UW-Eau Claire's David Kornack, who finished second.
Elsner's championship throw came on his second throw in the first round and the mark stood up through the remaining four rounds. Kornack's best throw came on his first throw of the final round.
"The strategy going into today was pretty basic, pretend that every throw is my first throw," Elsner said. "The reason behind this strategy is because usually my first throws are my furthest.
"I am very happy with the result! It wasn't my best series, but I was able to get the job done."
"There was one word that was going through my mind when I was standing up on the podium and accepting the award was wow," Elsner said. "I never liked the shot put before this year, but something changed this year. I never thought I would be winning a national championship award in the shot put ever, but I kept working and all the hard work paid off."
Elsner's two event finishes have given Stout 18 team points and, combined with
Noah Zastrow's fifth place finish in the pole vault yesterday, Stout has 22 team points, temporarily putting the Blue Devils in a tie for first place with UW-La Crosse. The Blue Devils finished seventh.
Elsner's shot put title is Stout's second shot put national title. Jason Lehman won the indoor national title in 1998.
Click on the Shot Put Results link above to see the complete results.
