Wade Royer joined the Wolves track and field program as the pole vault coach in 2014 and enters his 12th season with the program.
In 2025-26, the Northern State vault crew three NSIC All-Conference performances, including a first and second place finish for the men’s team. Sam Tremelling won his second straight NSIC Indoor Championship and Eli Radtke took second, earning 18 team points for the Wolves. Three women landed on the podium scoring 14 team points, led by All-Conference performer Romane Maugest. In addition, two Wolves hit NCAA national provisional marks during the indoor season. Tremelling closed out the season with the first All-American honor of his career, taking eighth.
Royer coached two All-Conference performers in 2023-24 including NSIC Indoor Champion Sam Tremelling and outdoor top-3 finisher Eli Radtke. In addition, Tremelling broke the Northern State indoor record with a 5.06m vault and qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Northern State took seventh (women) and eighth (men) from the NSIC Indoor Championships and eighth (men and women) from the NSIC Outdoor Championships in 2022-23. In total, NSU recorded ten NSIC All-Conference performances (Kenzee Danielson, Glen Quayle, and Sam Tremelling) and 11 school records between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
2021-22 brought four all-conference performances and one indoor conference championship for the Wolves pole vault crew. Kealy Hill and Glen Quayle eached tallied all-conference honors at the indoor and outdoor meets. In addition, Quayle won the NSIC Championship in the indoor season and qualified for the NCAA Championships, where he placed 12th with NCAA All-American honors.
Royer tallied the second NSIC Champion of his coaching tenure, as Kealy Hill won the indoor crown in 2020. The sophomore went on to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
In the spring of 2019, Royer trained NSIC Champion Kealy Hill in the pole vault. The freshman broke the indoor school record in the event clearing 3.58m and finished the season with all-conference accolades as the NSIC runner-up. Hill went on to win the conference championship at the NSIC Outdoor Championships clearing 3.66m. She was the first female conference champion in the event in program history.
Royer, a 2010 graduate of NSU, still holds the outdoor school record in the vault at 16'1". Royer had early success when he broke the NSU outdoor record his freshman season, from there he continued to breaking the record several more times on his way to becoming NSU's first 16-plus foot vaulter. Royer is a 3-time NSIC All-Conference performer and hit several NCAA national provisional qualifying marks while competing for the Wolves.
As a prep for Jones County High School in Murdo, S.D., Royer was a back-to-back class B State Champion in the pole vault. Royer set both region and state meet records while going undefeated his senior season, including a Howard Wood Relays crown.
