Wayne State junior Jaxson Ninete led a group of five Wildcat throwers that placed in the hammer throw by taking first place to lead the Wildcat men's track and field team on the opening day of the 2026 Northern Sun Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Duluth, Minnesota.
            Minnesota State holds a commanding lead in the team race with 89 points followed by Concordia-St. Paul in second at 39 points and Northern State third with 37.5.  Wayne State sits fourth at 35.5 points with Augustana (32) and Umary (30) closed behind in fifth and sixth place. 
            Ninete, a junior from Elkhorn HS, captured the NSIC title in the hammer throw with a top mark of 191' 8" as WSC had five medal winners in the event scoring 27 points.  Norfolk sophomore Samuel Zazueta also earned an All-NSIC finish taking third at 190' 9".
            Other medalists in the event were senior Jake Peitz fourth at 179' 3", Alex Altman fifth at 175' 10" and J'Dyn Bullion was seventh with a top throw of 170' 10".
            Junior Cain Brown earned All-NSIC honors in the high jump placing third clearing 6' 8 ¾" while junior Elliott Nottlemann tied for seventh not far behind clearing 6' 7 ½".
            Junior Devon Schultz also medaled on Friday taking eighth-place in the pole vault clearing 15' 3 ¾". 
            Wayne State had three athletes advance to finals on Saturday with top times in Friday's prelims.  Stanton sophomore Mitchell Hupp was the #2 qualifier in the 100-meter dash prelims in a time of 10.56 seconds.  Sophomore Mujeeb Adewuyi was the #6 qualifier in the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.62 seconds and junior Osman Saeed made the finals in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.19 seconds.
            The second and final day of the NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championships is in Duluth, Minnesota Saturday with field events starting at 10 a.m. and finals in all running events set to begin at 1 p.m.