Former North Dakota State decathlon champ dead at 29
Posted Monday, 20 November, 2006
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Teammates are mourning the death of former two-time North Central Conference decathlon champion Craig Fredrickson, who earned NCAA Division II All-America honors in 2000. He was 29.
Funeral services were held Monday in Detroit Lakes, Minn., for Fredrickson, of Fargo, who died Nov. 15, of heart problems, friend and school officials said. He was one of NDSU's top recruits in 1996.
"It hit us all pretty hard," former teammate Jared Maher said of his death.
Fredrickson attended the NDSU-California Poly football game last Saturday. He became ill the next day.
"It makes you re-evaluate everything," former teammate Preston Thiele said. "I remember Craig as this great athlete. Then out of the blue, something nabbed him. You wonder why."
Fredrickson was a two-sport athlete in football and track and played in 20 football games from 1996 to 1998. His best effort was against Emporia State (Kan.) in the 1998 opener, when he carried
the ball 12 times for 107 yards in a performance that beat out a young Lamar Gordon for the starting job. Gordon went on to become the school's all-time leading rusher.
Eventually, Fredrickson opted for track and field full time.
"Craig was a very gifted athlete," NDSU head men's track coach Don Larson said. "Extremely competitive."
Fredrickson won the NCC indoor pentathlon in 1999. He was an NCAA Division II All-American in 2000 in the decathlon.
He is survived by his wife, Lesley, and two daughters.
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