Augustana University Athletics

This week:
The Vikings will be split this weekend with the multi-event competitors traveling to Mankato, Minn. for the Minnesota State Open & Pentathlon.  All other Augustana competitors will be traveling to the University of South Dakota Alumni Meet in Vermilion, S.D.  The Augustana women are ranked seventh in the latest USTFCCCA poll and the men dropped one spot to 19th. 

Last time out
Augustana showed well at the Division I-laden Jack Johnson Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota.  Team points were collected and the women finished sixth with 26 points and the men, seventh, with 34 team points. Some highlights include Kristin Brondbo's mile-run in which she finished fifth (behind four Golden Gopher runners) and clocked the third-fastest time in Division II this season.  Jason Greenway also performed well still early in his track and field career.  Greenway finished third in the 200-meter dash and sixth in the 60-meter dash. And his brother, Justin, finished two slots behind him in the 200-meter dash in fifth. CJ Ham had a good showing in his two throwing events with an eight-place finish in the shot put and 11th in the weight throw. 
 
Henrik Holmberg geared up for his heptathlon debut with seventh- and eighth-place finishes in the long jump and high jump.  Katie Guse and Kelsey Kaufmann continued their steady development in the high jump, notching fourth- and fifth-place finishes.  Kaylynn Erlandson hopped, skipped, and jumped her way to fourth place in the triple jump and Ryan Heuer finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles.  Kayla Mescher (400-meter dash), Khor Kong (400-meter dash), and Adam Braun (3,000-meter run) all placed eighth in their respective events.
 
Multis head to Mankato
For the first time in the 2012-13 season, Augustana will send five athletes to the Minnesota State Open to compete in the pentathlon.  Henrik Holmberg, Tor Myrhol, and Jacob Pohlmann will compete in the men's heptathlon while Katie Tonner and Mary Hitchcock will try their hands in the women's pentathlon. 
 
Holmberg competed at last week's Jack Johnson Invitational in the high jump and long jump on preparation for this weekend's pentathlon.  Pohlmann hit a career-high 4.30 meters in the pole vault last weekend and set another career mark in the 60-meter hurdles one week prior.  Myrhol has only competed in the pole vault this season and hit a season-high mark of 3.93 meters in the season-opening meet.
 
Tonner has set two college-best marks this season in the 60-meter hurdles (9.52 seconds) and high jump (1.55 meters). Hitchcock has competed individually in the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, and shot put. She has recorded a career-high mark in the high jump, clearing 1.40 meters.
 
Let's get provisional
Two more provisional marks were hit by Vikings at the Jack Johnson Invitational with one coming from a new face.  CJ Ham's mark of 15.75 meters in the shot put was enough to make him the fourth different, and first male, Augustana athlete to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships in March.  Kristin Brondbo provisionally qualified for her second event with her track-adjusted time of 4:57.72 in the one-mile run.  Brondbo's time cleared the provisional mark by nearly four seconds and is currently the third-fastest time for Division II women in the mile.

	Women				Men
Event	Athlete (Division II Rank)	Mark		Event	Athlete (Division II Rank)	Mark
Mile	Kristin Brondbo (2)	4:57.72		Shot Put	CJ Ham	15.75m
	Runa Falch (8)	4:59.11
3000m	Runa Falch (1)	9:32.96
	Kristin Brondbo (2)	9:37.95
High Jump	Katie Guse (8)	1.69m

Indoor debuts
Seven Vikings known for their distance running made their debuts last weekend and three of them earned points for the Vikings men.  Ousted by Division I runners, Adam Braun still managed to finish second among Division II runners, eighth overall, in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:42.99.  Braun earned three points for his finish due to meet rules only rewarding points to three members of a school in each event.  Paul Yak finished 10th and John Klecker in 11th earning two and one points, respectively. 
 
Preseason picks
The Augustana men and women were tabbed to finish second in the preseason coaches' poll released by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.  The women received one first-place vote and 125 points.  The men also received a first-place vote and gathered total 86 points.
 

Women's Preseason Poll
1	U-Mary (10)	142
2	Augustana (1)	125
3	Winona State (1)	117
4	Minnesota State (1)	104
5	Sioux Falls	92
6	MSU Moorhead	91
7	Minnesota Duluth	81
8	St. Cloud State	66
9	Wayne State	49
10	Northern State	46
11   13	Concordia-St. Paul Minot State Bemidji State	36 36 29

 

Men's Preseason Poll
1	Minnesota State (8)	97
2	Augustana (1)	86
3	MSU Moorhead (2)	85
4	Sioux Falls	66
5	St. Cloud State	59
6	U-Mary	58
7	Minnesota Duluth	49
8	Northern State	35
9 10 11	Concordia-St. Paul Minot State Wayne State	30 21 19

Northern Sun notables
A pair each of men and women were selected by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference as “Athletes to Watch” for the indoor track and field season.  Runa Falch was selected as the track athlete to watch after taking home the 5, 000-meter title at the NSIC Indoor Championships and finishing second and fourth in the 3,000 meter and mile runs, respectively.  Aduo Omot was honored as the men's track “athlete to watch” due to his 600-meter win at the NSIC Championships last season.  Omot's résumé also sports an 800-meter national title his sophomore season.  On the field side, Katie Guse looks to improve on her already impressive second-place finish in the high jump at the NSIC Championships from last season.  CJ Hamm returns for his sophomore season after a fifth place finish at the conference championship meet in the shot put.

Coaches' corner
Tracy Hellman enters his ninth season as head coach of the Viking track and field program.  He's won two conference titles and guided 14 All-America performers.  A multiple recipient of NSIC Coach of the Year awards, Hellman is assisted by Greg Binstock, Dan Allen, Riley Northrup, and Amber Beman 

On the blocks
The Vikings return to the familiar Myers Field House on the campus of Minnesota State for another open meet hosted by Minnesota State on Jan. 26.