MANKATO, Minn. – The Augustana track & field teams had three all-conference performances on day one of the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Mankota, Minnesota, on Friday afternoon. Additionally, 16 Vikings qualified for the finals Saturday in their respective events.
"It was a great first day at the conference championships today," director of track & field/cross country Tracy Hellman said. "We started out the day in impressive fashion with winning both distance medley relays, and we kept that momentum going all day.
"We have a number of athletes in the finals tomorrow and we are excited to see what Saturday brings."
The men's distance medley relay broke the NSIC record by over four seconds, running just over 10 minutes in a time of 10:00.30. The team, consisting of Ryan Hartman, Jed Dooyema, Jonah Breuer and Colten Brand, led from start to finish to pick up 10 points for the Vikings.
The women's distance medley also placed first to grant big points for the Vikings. The relay consisted of Cami Streff, Kaitlyn Mulder, Caroline Sudbeck and Nicolette Schmidt. Similarly, the women's relay also led from wire-to-wire with Schmidt having a big last few laps to win the event by over three seconds, finishing in a time of 11:57.89.
The Vikings picked up points from the women's 5,000m with Cait Savey and Megan Means placing fourth and fifth, with times of 17:25.19 and 17:33.47, respectively.
In the men's 5,000m, Henry Klitzke battled for a second-place finish running a time of 14:26.21. His time was seven seconds under the previous NSIC record.
Alec Kray also scored points in the 5,000m placing sixth running 14:49.01.
In the Heptathlon, Tyl Woelber enters day two in first place with 3,155 points and a 175 point lead over second place. Woelber started the day with a second-place finish in the 60m dash running 7.21 for 745 points. In the long jump, he tied his personal best with a jump of 22-11 to win the event, granting him 833 points. For his third event of the day, Woelber won the shot put with his first throw of 44-02.50 being his best, earning 696 points. Woelber rounded out day one with a third-place finish in the high jump, clearing 6-05 for 767 points.
Freshman Nyanas Kur placed eighth in the women's 60m hurdles with a time of 9.04 to advance to the finals.
In the men's 60m hurdles, Lawrence Lokonobei ran the second-fastest time in the preliminary round (8.17). Freshman Andrew Martens ran a season's best 8.27 to also advance to the finals.
Noa Marteau qualified for the 600m final placing seventh in the field running 1:58.54.
In the men's 600m, Noah Melton and Matthew Schoessow both ran qualifying times to advance for the finals. Melton ran the third-fastest preliminary time of 1:23.40 while Schoessow ran the fourth-fastest time clocking in at 1:23.45.
The Vikings had four total 800m runners advancing to the finals with two in the women's race and two in the men's race.
Cami Streff ran the fastest time in the field at 2:16.14. Caroline Sudbeck was close behind with the fourth-fastest time, running 2:18.29.
On the men's side, Austin Miller scorched the field running the fastest preliminary time by three seconds with a time of 1:52.68. Ryan Hartman will join Miller in the 800m finals with the third-fastest time, running 1:56.30.
Augustana recorded six qualifiers in the 1,000m with both the men and women having three advance to the finals.
In the women's 1,000m, Haylee Waterfall ran the best time of the day in 2:59.26. Patty Jo English ran the third-fastest qualifier (3:04.28) while Mia Salas qualified in the first heat (2:59.34).
On the men's side, Evan Johnson made a move after 400m to take the lead and run the fastest time in the field in 2:33.03. Breuer, after running the 800m leg on the men's DMR team earlier today, returned in the 1000m placing second in heat two with a time of 2:33.18. Matt Steiger was close behind in the second heat, also earning a spot in Saturday's final running 2:33.35.
Gavin Fischer advanced to the 200m final after running 22.46 in the fourth heat of the preliminary round.
The women's team got points from freshmen in the field events, Mearah Miedema placed fifth in the women's high jump, clearing 5-4.50. Additionally, Kylee Sallee and Anna Schmidt both placed eighth in their respective events. Sallee jumped 18-2 in the long jump while Schmidt had a leap of 10-08.25 in the pole vault.
–GoAugie.com–
