RESULTS - DAY 1
RESULTS - DAY 2
MANKATO, Minn. – Augustana men's and women's track and field teams earned a pair of second-place finishes Saturday at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Championships. The Vikings were led on the second day of the championships by NSIC-tile winners Travis Beniak in the one mile and 1,000 meter, Adam Braun, Runa Falch, Henrik Hansson and Aduo Omot.
The Viking women finished the first day of competition with 55 points and took in another 48 points today to end with a total of 103 points. U-Mary captured 60 points today after concluding yesterday with 47 points to win the conference title with a total of 170 points.
Augustana's men improved upon the 38 points it collected yesterday—gathering 112 points on the second day of competition—to surpass MSU Moorhead with a total of 150. It's the most points scored by the Vikings in a conference championship. Minnesota State won the NSIC men's crown with 215 points.
“I am very excited to earn two runner-up finishes from the men and the women,” said head coach
Tracy Hellman. “We had some standout performances today, highlighted by the numerous conference champions. The coaching staff is very proud of the fact that we had the best combined team finish (men and women) out of any other team in the NSIC. This is another stepping stone for the future success of our program.”
Katie Tonner and Kirsten Noska finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the triple jump to help the Viking women remain in the lead by four points. Tonner turned in a mark of 36 feet, 1.50 inches and Noska leaped 35 feet, 4.00 inches.
In the next event—the women's one mile—Falch and Annie Pfeifle combined for nine points in an effort to keep U-Mary at bay, but the Marauders gathered 17 points in the event to steal and finalize the lead. Falch placed fourth in 4:59.55, a provisional qualifying time for the national championships. Pfeifle was fifth in 5:04.43.
Kayla Mescher took eighth in the 400-meter run with a time of 58.49.
Kyle Blakeslee and Molly Kokesh collected third- and fifth-place finishes in the 1,000-meter run, respectively. Blakeslee ran 2:58.74 and Kokesh clocked in at 2:59.33.
The Vikings had another scoring surge in the 5,000-meter run with Falch winning the event by more than 18 seconds in 17:01.52. It's Falch's second-straight conference championship in the event and sixth NSIC title overall. The time also earned Falch her second provisional national qualifying time of the day. Leah Hansen ran the race in 17:29.52 to also provisionally qualify for nationals and take fourth. Blakeslee took fifth in 17:38.56 and Pfeifle was eighth in 17:53.22.
Augustana's women earned their final points of the day in the 4X400-meter relay. The Vikings finished sixth in 4:02.75.
In the first event of the day—the men's weight throw—CJ Hamm placed fifth with a toss of 50 feet, 2.50 inches to move the Vikings' point total to 42 on the men's side.
It was the one mile, though, where the Viking men were able to gain steam on MSU Moorhead. Augustana swept the top-three places to gather 24 points. Defending-conference champion Beniak won the race in a provisional national qualifying time of 4:14.31. Tom Karbo finished less than a second behind him at 4:14.97 and Henrik Hansson was third in 4:15.14.
Gathin Veldhuizen and Paul Mallory added third- and fifth-place finishes, respectively, in the 60-meter hurdles, adding 10 points for the Vikings to bring their total to 76. Veldhuizen sprinted a time of 8:30 and Mallory finished in 8.45.
In the 400-meter run, Skyler Kuil finished fourth in 50.33 and Holmberg was seventh in 51.57.
Omot captured the 600-meter run title in 1:20.61 to set a new conference record. He beat Wayne State's Andrew Jensen's time of 1:20.95 set last season. Khor Kong took sixth in 1:23.35.
Augustana continued to catch MSU Moorhead, earning 15 points in the 800-meter run. Hannson won his first conference championship in the event with a time of 1:55.58. Freshman Justin Cook laid down an impressive time of 1:56.91 to finish fourth.
Beniak had a double-win day, darting to the 1,000-meter title in 2:30.41. The victory allowed the Vikings to take over second place with 121 points. Jordan Slusser circled the oval in 2:36.74 to place sixth.
Taylor Olsen took eighth in the 200 meter dash (22.70).
Freshman Adam Braun ran to his first NSIC title in the 5,000 meter. He finished the race in 14:52.31. Paul Yak finished third in 15:05.45 and Beniak was sixth in 15:08.22. Ryan Evans gave the Vikings their 21st point in the event with a seventh-place finish (15:15.06).
The Viking men ended the day taking fifth in the 4X400-meter relay (4:02.75).
Vikings who have ran provisional times this season and are also admitted into the NCAA Indoor National Championships will compete on March 9 and March 10 in Mankato, Minn.
