MANKATO, Minn. – The Augustana track & field teams showcased facility, NSIC and school records as the Viking men placed second while the Viking women took third at the NSIC Indoor Championships in Mankato, Minnesota, on Saturday.
The Viking men repeated as runner-ups at the conference meet scoring 135 points while the women scored 106.33 points to place third. In total the men had five NSIC Champions while the women had four.
"The coaching staff and I are really proud of our teams' performances," director of track & field/cross country Tracy Hellman said. "Both teams placing in the top three is always something we look to pursue. Looking at the combined score, we found ourselves second overall.
"Hats off to the NSIC conference. The depth of talent is very deep, definitely one of the deepest in NCAA Division II. We are optimistic that we will have a large number of student-athletes qualify for the nation meet coming up in two weeks. "As always it's a great day to be a Viking."
The duo of Nicolette Schmidt and Patty Jo English had a record-setting race in the mile. English led for the first six laps before Schmidt took control of the lead to place first in a school-record time of 4:50.34, under English's previous school record time of 4:51.19. English placed third, also running under her previous school record, clocking in at 4:50.83.
The men's mile proved to be just as rewarding for the Vikings as Ryan Hartman broke the NSIC record running 4:08.87, just a tenth of a second under Austin Miller's time from last year. Hartman and Colten Brand took turns with the lead in the first few laps. Approximately halfway through the race, Hartman began to open up to win the race by three seconds. Brand earned runner-up honors placing second overall in 4:11.30.
Evan Johnson and Matt Steiger also contributed points in the mile, placing fourth (4:16.16) and sixth (4:16.51), respectively.
In the women's triple jump, senior Kaly Banks made the most of her final indoor conference championships placing sixth overall, more importantly, Banks broke the school record on her sixth attempt with a leap of 39-00.25, hitting the NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark.
The Vikings picked up valuable points in the men's 60m hurdles with Lawrence Lokonobei and Andrew Martens running personal best times. The duo placed third and fourth, respectively, running identical times of 8.07. Martens improved on his personal best (8.27) in the preliminary round yesterday, with his blistering time of 8.07.
Noa Marteau scored points in the 600m placing seventh clocking in at 1:38.82.
In the men's 600m, Noah Melton and Matthew Schoessow placed fourth and fifth running 1:22.55 and 1:23.11, respectively.
In the men's 800m, Austin Miller nearly pulled off an upset down the final straightaway. In typical Miller fashion, he progressed through the race with a blistering kick of 27.3 for the final 200m, to almost come away with the victory. Miller clocked in a 1:53.29 to place second while Hartman placed fifth in 1:55.47 to grant additional points for the Vikings.
In the heptathlon, Tyl Woelber once again made his mark on the NSIC record book. Woelber placed first in the heptathlon scoring 5,378 points to break the NSIC and facility record. The total was three points shy of his school-record performance as well. Woelber started day two of the heptathlon with a second-place finish in the 60m hurdles earning 893 points with his time of 8.36. He placed third in the pole vault earning 654 points with his vault of 13-06.50. Woelber completed the event with a seventh-place finish in the 1,000m breaking three minutes clocking in at 2:58.76 for 676 points.
The Viking women had three point scorers in the women's pentathlon led by freshman Kylee Sallee who placed third scoring 3,335 points. Sallee won the long jump portion of the pentathlon leaping 18-03.25 for 720 points.
Maria Pedroso and Kaye Paschka placed sixth and seventh with point totals of 3,207 and 3,119, respectively. Pedroso placed fourth in the high jump, clearing 5-02.25 for 712 points while Paschka placed third in the 60m hurdles running 9.21 to earn 867 points.
In both the women's and the men's 1,000m, the Vikings turned out first and third place finishes.
English, returning from the mile, led from 200m on to claim victory running 2:54.48. Mia Salas moved up two spots in the final 200m to earn third place, clocking in 2:57.82. Haylee Waterfall rounded out the scoring for the Vikings placing sixth in 2:59.58.
In the men's 1,000m, Evan Johnson, returning from the mile, led from wire to wire to win the race in 2:27.47. Jonah Breuer, who ran the 800m leg of the distance medley on Friday, ran in the third position for the majority of the race to solidify an all-conference spot running 2:30.07.
Steiger, also returning from the mile earlier in the meet, earned points for the Vikings placing seventh running 2:32.57.
Gavin Fischer scored points for the Vikings in the 200m, placing sixth overall, clocking in at 22.65.
Schmidt returned in the 3,000m after breaking the school record in the mile earlier in the day. She led from the beginning and picked up her second victory of the day, running 9:49.62. Megan Means was close behind, placing third in the race, crossing the finish line in 9:53.16. Cait Savey rounded out the scoring for Augustana, placing seventh in 10:03.34.
Henry Klitzke turned out an NSIC-record performance in the men's 3,000m, breaking the NSIC record by half a second running 8:16.45. Alec Kray found an extra gear in the last straightaway to overtake MSU Moorhead's Nadir Yusuf to claim runner-up honors, running 8:18.40.
Brand, doubling back from the mile, was close behind to place fourth in the race with a time of 8:20.39.
The women's 4x400m placed fifth running 3:58.48 with the team of Ella Heinitz, Streff, Marteau and Sudbeck.
The men's 4x400m placed fifth overall in a time of 3:27.67 with the relay team of Jed Dooyema, Schoessow, Martens and Melton.
–GoAugie.com–
