Folkestad & Nygaard Earn USTFCCCA All-Region Honors

MOORHEAD, Minn. (3/12/25)---Cooper Folkestad (Sr., Wadena, Minn./Wadena-Deer Creek HS) and Kyla Nygaard (Jr. Maple Grove, Minn.) earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) North All-Region honors for finishing in the Top 5 in the region in an individual event. 

 

The Top 5 individuals in each event from each region on the year-end Descending Order Lists earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each member of the region's top-3 relay teams. The regions used for this award – East, Great Lakes, Metro, Mid-Atlantic, Mideast, Midwest, Niagara, North, South, and West – match those used during the cross country season.

 

Folkestad, who earns his third indoor All-Region honor, won the award for his performance in the shot put at the MIAC Championship Meet. He posted a distance of 55-07.75, earning him a spot at the NCAA National Indoor Meet, and was fifth in the region for 2025.

 

Folkestad joins Jesse Middendorf and Cal Wright as the only Cobbers to earn indoor All-Region honors on three different occasions.

 

Nygaard claims the first All-Region honor of her career and she becomes the first Cobber athlete to win the USTFCCCA award since 2021 when Josie Hermann won it in the 800 meters and Cayle Hovland earned it in the shot put. 

 

Nygaard's All-Region performance came at the conference indoor championship meet when she clocked a time of 57.48 in the 400 meters. That mark is the second fastest in school history and No.5 in the region this season. 

Past Cobber Men's USTFCCCA Indoor All-Region Award Winners
2023 - Hayden Gagnon (400 meters), Cal Wright (400 meters) 
2022 – Cooper Folkestad (Shot Put), Tommy Kern 400 meters), Jesse Middendorf (800 meters), Cal Wright (400 meters), 4x400-Meter Relay (Kern, Middendorf, Colin Schuller, Wright)
2021 – Cooper Folkestad (Shot Put), Jesse Middendorf (800 meters), Wade Rhonemus (Heptathlon)
2020 – Matt Bye (Heptathlon), Jesse Middendorf (800 meters)
2019 – Matt Bye (Heptathlon), Sam Haley (Pole Vault), Cal Wright (400 meters)
2018 – Eli Beachy (Pole Vault)  
2017 – Eli Beachy (Pole Vault), Willie Julkes (60-meter hurdles), Jackson Schepp (Heptathlon), David Supinski (600 meters)
2016 – Jackson Schepp (Heptathlon)

Past Cobber Women's USTFCCCA Indoor All-Region Award Winners
2021 - Josie Herrmann (800 meters), Cayle Hovland (shot put)
2020 - Josie Herrmann (800 meters)
2019 - Josie Herrmann (800 meters), Cayle Hovland (shot put)
2017 - Emma Peterson (high jump, triple jump)
2016 - Mikayla Forness (pentathlon), Vanessa Johnson (high jump), Emma Peterson (triple jump)