MANKATO, Minn. – Ella Bakken and Eleni Lovgren are NSIC Champions after Friday's events on day two of the NSIC Championships for Viking track and field. Multiple Vikings qualified in their respective events for Saturday's finals. 

Bakken crushed a facility record on her way to claiming her first NSIC Championship in the women's 10000m with a time of 35:53.94. On the men's side, Brady Hogan was named an NSIC All-Conference honoree in the men's 10000m with a time of 31.36.10. Erik Gundersen, Jesse Kaas, Dawson Strom and Kadin Groen all finished inside the top 10 in the event. 

Lovgren topped the podium as an NSIC Champion in the women's 3000m steeple after a blazing time of 10:58.11 in her third race ever in the event. Lindsey Young finished just outside the top five with a time of 11:30.12. On the men's side, Benjamin Haberman finished fifth with a time of 9:36.29 while Isaac Fink, Beau Brock and Caden Tegethoff finished outside the top 10. 

Andrew Martens will compete in the men's 110m hurdles after he finished with a NSIC conference meet record time of 13.65. Martens also qualified for the men's 400m hurdles with a time of 55.61. Noa Marteau dashed to a qualifying time of 1:04.75 in the women's 400m hurdles. 

Trent DeCook qualified for the men's 200m finals with a time of 21.28. 

Maia Peterson and Ella Heinitz will race in the women's 400m finals after times of 56.77 and 58.53. 

Caroline Sudbeck crossed the finish line with a time of 2:16.19 in the women's 800m preliminaries and qualified for the finals on Saturday. 

Four Vikings will race in the men's 1500m finals on Saturday. Ryan Hartman raced to a time of 4:01.29, Colten Brand finished with a time of 3:58.42, Tyson Ricker placed eighth with a time of 4:02.11 and Nick Bachelor qualified with a time of 4:00.16. On the women's side, Ashley Overgaauw qualified with a time of 4:42.24. 

On Thursday
Two Vikings kicked off the championship on Thursday as Kylee Sallee finished fourth in the women's heptathlon while Maria Pedroso finished sixth. Sallee garnered a first-place mark of 5.84m in the women's long jump. Pedroso had her best finish in the women's high jump with a third-place leap of 1.62m.