ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Augustana track & field teams concluded the NSIC Outdoor Track & Field Championships with second place finishes in Aberdeen, South Dakota, on Saturday.

The men scored 136 points, finishing behind Minnesota State, who scored 214 points. The women earned 127 points and Minnesota State won with 191 points.

"It was a great finish to the NSIC Outdoor Championships with our teams," Director of track & field/cross country Tracy Hellman said.

"Both men and women finishing runner-up is a great testament to our proud tradition of excellence within the track & field program.

"The coaching staff is proud of our success and we now look forward to finding out our NCAA qualifiers next week. It was a great finish to the year, we are thankful for our seniors who have contributed so much. It's a great day to be a Viking!"

Tyl Woelber was named NSIC High Point Scorer, earning Augustana 27 points in four events. Woelber scored 11 points Friday, placing third in the long jump (24-03) and fourth in the high jump (6-7).

He returned Saturday to claim second in the triple jump and the javelin throw. Woelber opened the day with a school record in the triple jump with his second attempt of 47-09.75.

His outdoor personal best triple jump was back at the NSIC Outdoor Championships in 2019, besting that personal best by over eight inches.

Later in the day, he threw the javelin 194-11 on his first attempt to place second.

In total, Augustana had six event winners to go with 22 All-Conference performers. 

The women totaled 11 All-Conference, with Cami Streff (800m) and Megan Means (5,000m) bringing home gold.

The men of Augustana also claimed 11 All-Conference, with Ryan Hartman (3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m), Evan Johnson (1,500m) and Lawrence Lokonobei (110m hurdles) winning events. 

The first event winner of the day for the Vikings came in the men's metric mile, with Evan Johnson putting down a kick on the final lap to move up from second to first. His final lap split was 59.3, finishing in 3:51.20.

Lokonobei returned to the track for the 110m hurdle finals where he took gold. With little wind, he clocked 14.32, to earn his first NSIC title of his career.

Cami Streff would also earn her first NSIC title of her career, coming in the women's 800m. Streff negative split the race, running 1:05.9 for the first 400m and then clocking 1:04.2 for the second lap to win the event by almost two seconds (2:10.17).

Megan Means returned to the track after placing second in the 10,000m on Friday to claim victory in the 5,000m. Means made the 12.5 lap trek in 17:09.68, over ten seconds before the second place finisher. 

The final event winner of the day came in the men's 5,000m where Ryan Hartman would earn his second NSIC title of the meet.

Hartman crossed the finish line in 14:40.06, nine seconds before the second place finisher.

The track events started with the 4x100m relays, with the women Vikings taking fifth while the men placed fourth.

The women's relay of Grayce Adler, Ella Heinitz, Kylee Sallee and Nyanas Kur placed fifth in 48.68.

The men's relay of Lokonobei, Andrew Martens, Connor Clayton and Luke Berends ran 42.15 for fourth place.

In the women's metric mile, Augustana earned 14 points, with the duo of Nicolette Schmidt and Patty Jo English placing second and third, respectively.

Schmidt crossed the finish line a second after the event winner (4:31.77), with English close behind in 4:33.34.

Following Johnson's 10 points in the 1,500m, the Vikings also racked up an additional 14 points in the event.

Matt Steiger placed third (3:54.52) with Colten Brand close behind in the fourth spot (3:55.15), Austin Miller rounded out the scoring with his sixth place finish (3:57.63).

Augustana earned the most points in the 110m hurdles. In addition to Lokonobei's 10 points, Andrew Martens placed fifth in 14.69 to grant the Vikings 14 points.

Ella Heinitz contributed three points for the Vikings in the open 400m, narrowly missing her personal best, running 58.28.

Noa Marteau earned her first top-3 finish in a conference meet, placing third in the 400m hurdles. 

Nyanas Kur added three points to the Vikings total with a sixth place finish in the open 200m.

The women of Augustana earned an astounding 26 points in the women's 5,000m. Along with the 10 points from Means, four additional Vikings cracked the top eight. Both Schmidt and English returned from the 1,500m to provide 11 points for Augustana, placing third and fourth, respectively. 

Close behind English was Cait Savey, also returning to the track after running the 10,000m on Friday to place fifth (17:32.93).

Freshman Aubrey Surage rounded out the scoring, placing eighth in 17:47.40.

On the triple jump runway, Kaly Banks placed second with her sixth attempt leap of 39-03.

Similar to the women's 5,000m, the men also raked in a large point total, earning 22 points over the 12.5 laps.

In addition to Hartman's victory, Augustana had three additional point scorers, with Henry Klitzke earning third (14:51.17). Freshman Daniel Street put on a show for his hometown, placing fifth in the race (15:05.97). Johnson, doubling back from the 1,500m, earned a seventh place finish to score two points for the Vikings.

The final points for the women came in the 4x400m relay where the team of Maia Peterson, Heinitz, Caroline Sudbeck and Streff placed seventh in 4:01.03.

The men's 4x400m relay team of Jed Dooyema, Matthew Schoessow, Martens and Jonah Breuer placed sixth in 3:21.22.

–GoAugie.com–