NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's track & field team had an exciting day of action on Saturday, with some team members heading to the Carleton Relays and others to the Phil Esten Challenge, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. On a busy day for the Cougars, the highlight came from Cody Nye, with the junior producing a new school record in the shot put.

At the Carleton Relays, Bryan Zepeda had a new PR in the shot put, finishing sixth with a throw of 44-1.50 (13.45 meters). Two other throwers had top-eight finishes on the day for the Cougars, with Ben Paulson taking seventh in the discus throw with a distance of 123-10 (37.74 meters) and Justin Robinson finishing eighth in the hammer throw with a distance of 144-4 (44.00 meters).

Just missing out on point-scoring opportunities for Minnesota Morris at the Carleton Relays were Rory Shackelford in ninth place in the 1,500 Meter Run (4:21.00), Gregory Peterson in 10th in the 5,000 Meter Run (16:47.97), Joshua Welch in ninth in the 400 Meter Hurdles (1:06.19), Jerad Nelson in ninth in the hammer (135-5, 41.29 meters), and Zepeda in ninth in the discus (120.11, 36.86 meters) and 10th in the hammer (130-7, 39.81 meters).

At the Phil Esten Challenge, a pair of Cougar throwers took part in the large-scale meet. Nye had approached the school record in the shot put two weeks ago, but on Saturday he was able to take it down, recording a new program benchmark of 50-5.25 (15.37 meters), finishing fourth overall in the event. The other thrower in action for UMN Morris was Luke Petersen. His throw of 157-9 (48.08 meters) in the hammer was good for 10th place. 

Next week will take the Cougars to the Ron Masanz Classic, hosted by Minnesota State University-Moorhead on April 29-30.