Larson inducted into Hall of Fame
Team excited for competition at Drake Relays
NDSU men’s track and field head coach Don Larson received a call about a month ago informing him he would being inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame.
“I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April Fools,” Larson said.
Larson, who is in his 28th year as a coach, was inducted into the Hall of Fame Thursday while he and the NDSU track and field team attended the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame was created in 1977 and has 75 members.
Throughout his career, Larson has led NDSU to seven relay titles and two individual victories at the Drake Relays.
Larson has coached 193 NCAA Division II All-Americans over his career.
Larson’s first 25 years at NDSU were when the program competed at the Division II level.
During that span, his teams won 36 North Central Conference titles.
He feels the induction is a reflection on the whole program.
“The head coach gets a lot of credit sometimes,” Larson said. “But when it comes down to it, it’s your student-athletes and your assistants that play as big a role.”
The Drake Relays, is a notable event because it features both Big 10 and Big 12 schools like Texas and Ohio State.
“The competition starts to build,” NDSU women’s track and field head coach Ryun Godfrey said. “They bring in some of the top professionals in the world.”
Until this point, most of the meets NDSU has competed in have been individual meets.
The Drake Relays offers in more of a team aspect and draws a bigger crowd than most past meets.
“You run in front of thousands of people,” sophomore middle distance runner Ross Schilling said. “And you don’t really see that much in track.”
Schilling hopes to carry his recent success into this weekend.
For two consecutive weekends, he has won 800-meter titles.
For two consecutive weekends, he has won 800-meter titles.
Last weekend at the Oregon Invitational, Schilling topped 28 other runners for the victory.
A week prior, Schilling won the 800 at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa.
Both the men and women’s teams hope to carry this same momentum.
“There’s always great teams (at the Drake Relays), and we’ll be looking to break some school records,” said sophomore sprinter Laura Hermanson.
The event started Wednesday and run through Saturday.