Augustana University Athletics

MEET NOTES | MEET SCHEDULE | HEAT SHEETS

Storylines
• Augustana heads to Mankato, Minn. for the Ted Nelson Classic on Saturday, Feb. 8.
• This will be the second of three consecutive trips to Minnesota State's Myers Fieldhouse for the Vikings.
• Last weekend, CJ Ham stole the show, qualifying in two events and breaking his own school record.
• Not to be outdone, Aduo Omot and Emma Anderson both won the 1,000-meter run.
• Ham's performance was the only time this season that a Viking has qualified in two events at the same meet.
• Augustana now has eight Vikings qualified for the NCAA Championships, but the marks are sliding down their lists.
• Anderson has steadily climbed up the NSIC performance lists and is on track to hit mid-distance qualifying marks.
• The Viking 4x400-meter teams have also showed improvement with the women inching their way towards the NCAAs
• The women's team dropped out of the top 25 and check in at 18th while the men fall 10 spots to No. 67.

Ham breaks own school record; Omot, Anderson sweep 1,000m runs.
• For the second time in three weeks, CJ Ham broke the school record in the men's weight throw.
• Although he didn't win the event, his fourth-place heave of 17.28 meters (56 feet, 8.5 inches) took down the record he set two weeks ago at the Dordt Open.
• Ham also placed third in the shot put, hitting a provisional mark at 15.86 meters (52 feet, 0.5 inches).
• Aduo Omot and Emma Anderson each won their 1,000-meter run, clocking top-six times in the NSIC.
• Anderson also placed top-three in the mile run with Kaitlyn Yoerg recording top-eight time in both events as well.
• Kayla Mescher and Skyler Kuil both logged fast 400-meter times and each earned fourth place.
• The women's 4x400-meter relay team was just three tenths of a second off the NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
• Augustana's men's 4x400-meter squad posted their fastest time of the season, taking fourth at the meet.
• Carina Hofmeister earned a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash, with her best time this season.
• Justin Greenway ran a season-best in the 200-meter, taking sixth in the men's event.
• Zach Tuschen earned his highest finish of the season, taking second in the 600-meter run.
• Augustana's hurdle duo of Ryan Heuer and Brandon Gildemaster placed four-five in the 60-meter hurdles.
• In all, 17 Vikings placed in events at the Minnesota State Multi & Open.

Poll position: women fall out of top 25, men fall out of top 50
• Augustana's women's team dropped out of the top 25 to No. 28.
• The four Vikings with qualifying marks earned points for the team.
• Kristin Brondbo collected 20 points for her top 3,000-meter mark and over four bonus points leading the Vikings.
• With the 10th-fastest 800-meter time, Kayla Mescher earned over five points for the Vikings' team score of 31.67.
• The Viking men added two more qualifying marks, but couldn't raise their previous top 50 ranking.
• CJ Ham's shot put and weight throw marks only added 0.12 points to bring the Viking total to 1.96.
• Augustana's three other point-earning events all fell in the Division II ranks, moving the Vikings down in the rankings.
• St. Augustine's moved back into the top spot on the men's side, adding 14 events to their performance list.
• Lincoln (Mo.) holds onto their No. 1 women's ranking with eight new marks on their performance list.

Let's get provisional
• CJ Ham added two more marks to the Viking qualifying list, pushing the total to nine in the 2013-14 indoor season.
• Ham's shot put and weight throw marks rank 27th and 30th in NCAA Division II, respectively.
• The three previous Viking marks all took a hit in the national rankings.
• Harald Karbo's 3,000-meter mark remains the leading mark on the men's side, ranking 16th in Division II
• Aduo Omot and Henrik Hansson both slipped into the low 20s with their 800-meter and mile marks.
• The women didn't have any new additions to the qualifying list as Kristin Brondbo's automatic mark in the 3,000-meter time remains the fastest in Division II and the leader on the Viking list of qualifiers.
• Kyle Blakeslee's 3,000-meter mark was met last weekend and is now in a tie for ninth.
• Kayla Mescher's 800-meter time from two weeks ago drops to 10th in the descending order list.
• In a tie for 20th with three other athletes, Kelsey Kaufmann rounds out the women's qualifiers.

Where the Vikings stack up in the NSIC
• Augustana's athletes own 35 spots on the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference top 10 lists
• Of those 35, five are the top mark in the league.
• The Vikings own the top two spots in the 800-meter run behind Aduo Omot and Kayla Mescher's qualifying times.
• Also with top spots are Kristin Brondbo in the 3,000-meter run, Kelsey Kaufmann in the women's high jump, and Emma Anderson in the women's 1,000-meter run.
• CJ Ham moved up the NSIC descending order lists in the shot put and weight throw, ranking third and fourth, respectively with his qualifying marks from this past weekend.
• Five Vikings are on the men's 3,000-meter list, led by Harald Karbo in third and John Klecker in fourth.
• Three Vikings are in the top seven of the women's mile list, led by Anderson's No. 3 ranking.
• With the addition of Zach Tuschen, Augustana now has three athletes on the 600-meter

Anderson closing in on qualifying marks
• Sophomore Emma Anderson has steadily shaved time off her mid-distance events and is nearing qualifying marks.
• Hailing from Sarona, Wis., Anderson now holds the top 1,000-meter time, No. 3 mile time, and seventh-fastest time in the women's 800-meter run from the Jack Johnson Classic.
• Anderson's mile time from this past weekend was just two seconds off the provisional mark and her 800-meter time from the Jack Johnson Classic is 2.5 seconds off from a provisional mark.
• In the 1,000-meter, an NSIC Championship event, Anderson owns the top mark by over a second.

Vikings 4x400 relay squads picking up speed
• Augustana's men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams put together their best performances this past weekend.
• The women clocked a season-best 3:56.43, finishing second and three tenths of a season off a provisional mark.
• The quartet of Carina Hofmeister, Charissa Ertheim, Colleen Everson, and Kayla Mescher have twice registered times under four minutes in four of their meets.
• Currently, the women's time ranks third in the NSIC.
• Augustana's group of Skyler Kuil, Zach Tuschen, Jeremy Botzet, and Aduo Omot have improved their time in every meet this season with Saturday's mark of 3:25.24 the fastest of the season.
• The Vikings' fastest time ranks sixth in the NSIC and is less than two tenths of a second from fourth.

Augustana picked to finish in top half of NSIC by league coaches
• Both men's and women's teams were pegged as top-half teams in the NSIC according to the preseason coaches' poll.
• Augustana's men's squad was slotted second, just four points behind two-time defending champion Minnesota State
• The Viking men collected four first-place votes for a 114-point total in the 12-team conference.
• Augustana's women also received a first-place nod, but were placed sixth in the 14-team league.
• The Vikings earned 123 points and U-Mary was tabbed as the favorite with seven first-place votes and 161 points.
•  the full polls are located on page three in the sidebar.

The staff
• In his 11th season as the head coach, Tracy Hellman enters 2014 with hopes of another award-filled season.
• Hellman has directed 75 All-Americans in his combined duties of leading the track and field teams as well as the
successful cross country teams.
• With four individual national championships and a relay title in 2012, Hellman has also earned 19 coach of the year
honors, including the 2011 national women's cross country coach of the year after leading his squad to the first national championship in program history.
•Assistant coach Greg Binstock enters his second season as the lead assistant.
• Directing sprinters and jumpers, Binstock helped Henrik Holmberg to two All-American finishes in multi-events last season and directed 12 national qualifiers to nine All-American performances.
• Graduate Assistants Riley Northrup (jumps) and Dan Allen (distance) round out the coaching staff.