SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – After a sensational indoor season, Elise Ulseth was named the Summit League Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, the league offices announced on Friday morning. Ulseth is the first Fighting Hawk to earn athlete of the year honors since North Dakota joined the Summit League.
Ulseth made headlines at the 2022 Summit League Indoor Championships, winning the pentathlon title with a school record of 4,080 points. She became the first Fighting Hawk to eclipse the 4,000-point mark in the pentathlon and gained Indoor All-Summit League honors with her finish. At the conclusion of the indoor season, Ulseth’s point total ranked 21st nationally.
On her way to the Summit League pentathlon crown, Ulseth won three of the five pentathlon events and finished second in both the shot put and 800 meters. In the second pentathlon event of the meet, Ulseth set a new school record in the high jump with a clearance of 5-9 1/4 (1.76m). She also recorded a personal-best in the shot put with a throw of 37-2 1/2 (11.34m).
During the regular season, Ulseth broke the school record for the first time in the pentathlon, winning the event title at the UND Open with 4,029 points. At the UND Open, she broke the school record in the long jump with a leap of 19-3 1/4 (5.87m) and ran the second-fastest time in school history in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.64.
The Kristiansund, Norway, native is already off to a hot start this outdoor season, setting three new program records last week at the Hurricane Invitational. In Miami, Ulseth broke the school record in the javelin (165-0, 50.29m), 100-meter hurdles (13.91) and long jump (19-8 3/4, 6.01m).
This week alone at the Texas Relays, Ulseth has already shattered the heptathlon school record with a point total of 5,500 points. On the way to her program record in the heptathlon, Ulseth became the first Fighting Hawk in UND history to accumulate more than 5,000 points in the event and also tied the school record in the high jump with a height of 5-8 1/2 (1.74m).
Ulseth and the rest of the North Dakota track and field teams are competing at the Texas Relays, Bobcat Invitational and Raleigh Relays on Friday and Saturday yet this week.
*Tyler Wells, UND Athletics
