Northland Sports Online

UMD Men-Women Track Take Fourth

DSC_9897 (800x532)

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

 

Photos By : Rod Behm

 

Nick Moran and Brendon Pineda both claimed individual titles and helped lead the University of Minnesota Duluth to a fourth-place finish at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D.

DSC_9418 (800x532)

Minnesota State University-Mankato cruised to its fourth consecutive team crown at the 12-team, two-day event, which concluded Saturday afternoon, with 202.50 points and was followed by Augustana College (92 pts.), Minnesota State University-Moorhead (84 pts.), UMD (83 pts.), St. Cloud State University (72) and the host, University of Sioux Falls (69 pts.).

“Our six competing seniors provided some tremendous leadership this weekend for the 12 freshmen who were making their NSIC outdoor debuts,” said head coach Paul Nisius, whose Bulldogs placed fifth one year ago and the league’s outdoor meet.  “All six of those seniors reached the podium in an individual event or relay and I’m proud of what they and the rest of our team accomplished in Sioux Falls.”

DSC_9540 (800x532)

Moran, a senior team captain from Monticello, Minn., personally accounted for 15 of UMD’s 83 points, winning the hammer throw on Friday with a toss of 181′-08″ and later that day took fourth in discus event (161′-08″).

Pineda, who joined the UMD track  program this spring after completing his first season as a starting guard with the basketball Bulldogs, prevailed in the shot put with a winning effort of 55′-07.00″.  He and senior Devin Sowers, who was fourth in that same competition (52′-04.50) both attained NCAA Division II provisional-qualifying mark.

Sophomore Jason Lilja snared runnerup honors in the men’s high jump (6′-08.00″) and senior Dan Nielsen did likewise in the 3,000 meter steeplechase — a race he won one year ago — with a NCAA II provisional-qualifying clocking of 9:09.42.

DSC_9588 (800x532)

UMD’s list of point getters also included rookies Connor Behm in the 400-meter dash (4th place; 48.94) and Garrett Benz in the 800-meter run (4th; 1;55.04), sophomore Brian Lee in the hammer throw (4th; 175′-07″), junior James Ryan in the 110-meter hurdles (6th; 15.04), freshman Josh Peterson in the 800-meter run (6th; 1:55.78), Sowers in the discus throw (6th; 159′-03″) and junior Kern Wilson in the hammer throw (8th; 163′-08″)

DSC_9485 (800x532)

In addition, the 4 x 400 relay unit of Behm, senior Phil d’Entremont, and freshmen Darrick Jackson and Frank Deluca placed third (3:18.45) while senior Jacob Nelson and Holden Olson teammed with first-year Bulldogs Joey Kolpin and Nick Beattie to finish eighth in the 4 x 100 relay.

The top three finishers in each event and the top two relay teams received All-NSIC recognition.

Amelia Maher certainly made her final Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship appearance a memorable one. The University of Minnesota Duluth senior finished as that event’s leading point producer Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D., and she and her Bulldog teammates wound up placing fourth among 14 league schools.

DSC_9808 (800x532)

Maher locked up the women’s high jump title (5′-05.75″) on Friday morning before going on to place second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.04) the following day. Maher, who finished as the runnerup in the league’s outdoor heptathlon competition last week (4,893 points), wrapped up the weekend by helping the 4 x 100 relay team take fifth and the 4 x 400 unit claim seventh. That gave the Sauke Center, Minn., product — and recently-minted UMD  Top Female Scholar-Athlete for 2014-15 —  a personal harvest of 27.5 points.

UMD as a whole generated 87 points to trail four-time defending champion University of Mary (162 pts.), Augustana College (109 pts.) and Winona State University (97 pts.) in the final team standings. The Bulldogs were followed by Minnesota State University-Mankato (73 pts.), Minnesota State University-Moorhead (72 pts.) and Wayne State College (63 pts.)

Besides Maher, UMD produced one other individual champion in freshman Emi Trost, whose NCAA Division II provisional-qualifying time of 4:27.39 took a backseat to no one in Saturday’s 1,500-meter run finals. The Bulldogs also received second-place performances from senior Jennifer Hitchcock in the hammer throw (184′-02′, a NCAA Division II qualifying mark) and junior Hannah Olson in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:39.04). Olson teammates, senior Alexandra Rudin (10:40.89) and sophomore Breanna Colbenson (10:43.25), placed 3-4 in that event and like Olson did so in NCAA II provisional-qualifying fashion. Other UMD point-getters from the weekend included Trost in the 800-meter run (3rd; 2:15.31) , Colbenson in the 5,000-meter run (6th; 17:41.74), freshman McKenzie Holt in the 10,000-meter run (6th; 37:00.38), Rudin in the 5,000-meter run (7th; 17:45.81), junior Madeline Schaeffer in the 400-meter hurdles (7th; 1:03.76) and 100-meter hurdles (8th; 14.65) and Olson in the 800-meter run (8th; 2:20.46).

Schaeffer, freshman Erica Kesseh and senior Erin Pangerl joined Maher on both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay outfits.

“A good coach will make her players see what they can be, rather than what they are,” said UMD head coach Joanna Warmington. “Today, my team prevailed and over performed. For missing some top point scorers from last year, I truly admired the effort our team put forth this weekend. We had 15+ personal records and lifetime bests. Overall, it was a great meet.”

The top three finishers in each event and the top two relay teams received All-NSIC recognition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

steven 557x220

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply