Odegaard not settling for just one event
Sophomore leaper won five state titles while attending high school in Kindred, N.D.
Track athletes generally have one event they excel at.
Halley Odegaard has nearly mastered hers as a sophomore and is now trying to add six more.
Odegaard is currently three-quarters of an inch away from school record in the outdoor high jump and one-quarter of an inch away from the indoor school record.
Despite shining in the high jump, Odegaard is taking on a new challenge: the heptathlon.
The heptathlon consists of the high jump, 100-meter hurdles, shot put, 200-meter dash, javelin, long jump and 800.
“I did some throwing in high school, and I did long jump so I kind of had one end to the other except for the running,” Odegaard said.
Odegaard was a standout athlete at Kindred High School before coming to NDSU.
She was a five-time state champion in the high jump and took the state title in the triple jump once.
Odegaard’s brother, Brady, was also quite an athlete.
He attended NDSU as well and still holds the North Dakota state high school triple jump record.
The decision to come to NDSU was not a difficult one for Odegaard.
“My dad and both of my brothers went to NDSU,” Odegaard said. “We were Bison fans. I thought about going somewhere warm and trying something else out, but Fargo is a great city.”
Odegaard’s coaches are happy she chose NDSU, giving her high praise for the work she has done in her young career.
“We just hope we can find some more athletes just like her,” coach Ryun Godfrey said.
With Odegaard adding the heptathlon, she is proving just what a great athlete she is.
In her freshman year, she already put her name in the record books in the event, earning the No. 9-spot in Bison history.
She holds the school’s freshman record for the high jump and the pentathlon for the indoor season.
While Odegaard is a great athlete, she has also proven to be a good leader on the team.
“Halley’s a leader on our team,” Godfrey said. “She comes into practice and works hard. She’s not the most vocal person, but she always comes in with a smile and is happy to be doing what she’s doing.”
With the numbers Odegaard has put up and the numbers that are yet to come, she figures to have a couple of school records to go along with her smile before too long.
Her attitude and work ethic will continue to allow her to shine as a leader as well.
“Everybody wants to be like Halley,” head coach Ryun Godfrey said.