Slate, Dahlgren and Hagelund win conference titles in record-breaking fashion

Essence Slate had the meet of her life at the Conference Carolinas Championship in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Mount Olive senior from Fairbanks won the 400 in a program-record 55.25 seconds, placed third in the 200, fourth in the long jump and ran a leg on the winning 4×400 relay that broke the conference record. In total, Slate scored a commanding 23.5 points to help the Trojans sweep the team titles.

Slate began the meet in the long jump, where she flew to 18 feet, 5.75 inches on her first attempt, netting an eight-inch personal best.

An hour later, she sped to the top time in the 400 prelims, clocking 55.88.

Then she powered to a spot in the 200 finals, running a personal-best 24.32 to finish as the fifth-fastest qualifier in the prelims. By slashing 0.47 off her previous best, the former Lathrop High standout also moved up to No. 4 on the Alaska all-time list for wind-legal times, among known performers.

Alaska Women’s All-Time 200 (wind legal)

1. Passion Richardson, 23.56 (6/00)
2. Hailey Williams, 23.95 (4/24)
3. Janay DeLoach, 24.05 (4/17)
4. Essence Slate, 24.32 (2/26)
5. Janelle Billingslea, 24.42 (2/00)
6. Vanessa Aniteye, 24.53 (7/22)
7. Mary Pearce, 24.82 (4/07)
8. Olivia Manley, 24.89 (2/23)
9. Alisha Allen, 24.91 (5/14)
10. Tanner Ealum, 24.93 (2/17)

Source: Alaska Sports Report

But Slate was not done yet.

On day two, she captured the first individual conference title of her career, blazing two laps around the JDL Fast Track to go 1-2 in the 400 with teammate Serenity Harvey.

Slate’s time of 55.25 lowered her own program record by 0.51 and obliterated the meet record set by Southern Wesleyan’s Jami Wright (56.18) in 2020 by nearly one second, as Harvey also dipped under both records.

Slate also technically surpassed the indoor conference record set by Wright (55.79) in 2020. While Wright officially clocked 55.05 on a 300-meter flat track at GVSU, the time was converted for NCAA qualifying purposes and thus established the (converted) conference record.

Seventy minutes later, Slate returned to the track in the 200 finals, placing third in 24.48 and helping the Trojans sweep the top four spots.

With the team title all but guaranteed by the 4×400, Slate and her teammates celebrated by running away with the final title of the meet by lowering the conference record to 3:48.95.

The Trojans dominated the team standings, amassing 230.5 points — 121 points ahead of Converse — to collect their second straight indoor conference title and complete the sweep with the men’s team.

Slate currently ranks 24th (400), 28th (200) and 30th (4×400) in Division II this season.

Also competing at the conference meet was Belmont Abbey’s Miranda Wilkerson of North Pole (Monroe Catholic), who ran a leg on the Crusaders’ ninth-place distance medley relay.

At the Frontier Conference Championships, Soldotna’s Dylan Dahlgren leveled up yet again, this time in Brookings, S.D.

The Dickinson State senior won the weight throw in a conference-record 63 feet, 3.5 inches and took third in the shot put in a personal best 53-5.5 to help the Blue Hawks sweep the team titles.

Dahlgren’s colossal mark in the weight throw came on his first attempt, bettering his own conference record by two inches and winning by four and a half feet.

He also improved his No. 2 mark on the Alaska all-time list, as he inches closer to Anchorage’s Jordan Clarke, who threw 65-6 in 2013 while competing at Arizona State.

Dahlgren rounded out the meet in the shot put, throwing farthest on his third attempt to earn his first conference podium in the event and better his previous best by more than eight inches.

The senior moves into fourth in indoor program history for the shot put and betters his No. 4 mark in Alaska history, behind Clarke (70-6.25), former teammate Galen Brantley III (56-6.75) and Soldotna’s Ryan Shelton (55-9).

Dahlgren currently sits third (weight throw) and 17th (shot put) in the NAIA this season.

He was also awarded Dickinson State Frontier Conference Indoor Track and Field Champion of Character honors.

“Dylan (Dahlgren) quietly goes about being one of the hardest workers on the team,” said coach Shayne Wittkopp in a press release. “He’s made tremendous progress in athletics while being an outstanding student.”

Teammate Adarra Hagelund of Soldotna also had a stellar showing at the conference championships.

The senior won the high jump, tying her own conference record in 5-9.25, placed fourth in the triple jump, took fifth in the pentathlon and finished seventh in the long jump.

Hagelund entered the competition at 5-3.25, clearing the height on her first attempt, along with the two successive heights. She cleared 5-9.25 on her second attempt, tying her NAIA leading mark and indoor conference record that ranks tied for 17th in NAIA indoor history.

While she bowed out after three tries at 5-11.25, Hagelund is now 7-for-7 in conference titles in the high jump, first in the now-defunct North Star Athletic Association and now in the Frontier Conference.

The victory also marks her 29th win in the event as she remains undefeated this season.

Hagelund added a fourth-place showing in the triple jump, soaring to a personal-best 36-7.5 to improve her No. 10 spot in Alaska history for wind-legal jumps.

She also scored points in the long jump, nabbing a personal-best of 17-7, while her breakout performance in the pentathlon (3,180) at the Bison Open also contributed to the conference meet with a fifth-place showing.

The Blue Hawks swept the team titles, with women narrowly edging Dakota State (S.D.) by two points, 144-142, while the men completed the sweep with 134.5 points.

Also competing at the meet were Kenai’s Jayna Boonstra and Anchorage’s Eniah Boseman (East).

Boonstra, a junior at Carroll (Mont.), set a pair of personal bests in the long-distance events in her indoor conference debut. The Kenai Central grad placed eighth in the 5,000 (19:00.37) and was 10th in the 3,000 (10:54.73).

Boseman, a senior at Rocky Mountain, also collected two personal bests while competing in the mile (4:58.97) and the 800 (2:16.24).

Additional conference performers included Fairbanks’ Evelyn Wool at the American East Indoor Championships, while Soldotna’s Annie Burns and Fairbanks’ Shane Fisher represented at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships.

Wool, a freshman at Maine, made her conference debut in the 3,000 (10:08), collecting a 13-second personal best. The former West Valley runner also anchored the seventh-place distance medley relay (12:11.26).

Burns, a freshman at UT Martin, earned a season-best in the 800 (2:24.44) in addition to running a leg on the Skyhawks’ seventh-place distance medley relay (12:26.16).

Fisher, a junior and former West Valley standout, placed eighth in the mile (4:19.21) and ran a leg on the sixth-place distance medley relay (10:19.85).

Other notable indoor track and field performances by Alaskans:

• Two Rivers’ Riley Knott opened his outdoor season at the Cal All-Comers Meet. The Cal-Berkeley and Lathrop High grad won the long jump in a wind-aided 23-0.5 and placed runner-up in the 60 hurdles in 8.59.
• Petersburg’s Rik Cumps nabbed a pair of personal bests at the St. Olaf Tostrud Classic. The St. Olaf sophomore placed third in both the long jump (21-11.5) and the triple jump (43-11.25).
• Haines’ Luke Davis came away with two personal bests at the EOU Last Chance Meet. The Eastern Oregon sophomore placed fourth in the 1,000 (2:38.39) and ninth in the mile (4:32.64).
• Anchorage’s Elizabeth Page (South) won the 3,000 in a personal-best 10:14.36. The Swarthmore sophomore ranks second in program history in the event by less than three seconds. Page’s race was also virtually solo, winning by a colossal 72 seconds.
• Chugiak’s Liam Kuperman collected a personal best in the weight throw at the SC Triangle Classic. The Coast Guard senior threw 46-4, which ranks ninth in Alaska history.
• Haines’ Avari Getchell debuted in the 800 at the SDSU Last Chance Meet. The Augustana (S.D.) sophomore sped to 2:17.03 to take fourth. She also ran a leg on the 4×400 relay.
• Wasilla’s Mark DeArmond collected a pair of top-3 performances at the Marauders Tune-Up. The U-Mary sophomore placed runner-up in the 200 (22.42) and third in the 60 (7.02).
• Anchorage’s Finn Rigby (East) made their collegiate track debut at the Salo-Crenna Invite. The Pomona-Pitzer freshman competed in the 3,000 (11:15.80).
• Anchorage’s Murphy Dykstra (West) placed third at the Liz Wuertz Indoor Meet. The Grinnell junior leaped to a mark of 41-5.25.