For Immediate Release
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
NSIC Media Relations
Full PDF Release
All-Confernce Performers

NSIC Women’s Field  Athlete of the Year:
Wayne State’s Carly Fehringer (Weight Throw/Shot Put, Sr., Wayne, Neb.), the 2012-13 NSIC Field Athlete of the Year, won 5 of the 7 weight throw competitions she competed in this year. Fehringer is currently ranked 4th in NCAA in the weight throw with a mark of 63’ 8.75”.  A dual threat in the throwing events, she is also currently ranked ninth in the NCAA in the shot put with a mark of 48’ 7 .5”, and was the NSIC runner-up in the event to All-American teammate Sara Wells.  She has increased her personal best in the shot put this year by almost 2’, from 46’ 9” to 48’ 7.5”.

NSIC Women’s Track Athlete / Newcomer of the Year:
Minnesota Duluth’s Samantha Rivard (Distance, Fr.,  Oak Grove, Minn.) was voted by the league coaches as the NSIC Women’s Track Athete of the Year and NSIC Women’s Newcomer of the Year.  Rivard was the high point performer at the NSIC Championships as she placed first in the mile, second in the 3K and first in the 5K. She has provisionally qualified for four events at nationals including the Distance Medlay Relay. She has broke two school records this year in the mile and the 3K and is currently ranked fourth nationally in the mile, sixth  in the 3K and 5K.

NSIC Women’s Coach of the Year:
Minnesota Duluth’s Joanna Warmington was voted by her peers as the NSIC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year.  Buoyed by a litany of stellar individual performances, particularly in the distance events, the Bulldog women laid clam to the team title at the 2014 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Bulldogs rolled up 143 points as a team to dethrone three-time defending champion and runnerup University of Mary (139 points) and capture their first conference indoor crown since 2004.  


NSIC Team Notes
Augustana
Augustana held up their preseason billing of second-best men’s squad and showed off their women’s abilities by taking third. The Vikings crowned eight individuals at the NSIC Championships, including an impressive four in a row on day one. Kelsey Kaufmann (So., Arlington, S.D./Arlington HS) won the women’s high jump to earn the first individual title of the meet. 20 qualifiers later, John Klecker (So., Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins HS) and Kyle Blakeslee (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls HS) swept the men’s and women’s 3,000-meter run then the Vikings ran away with two distance medley relay victories. On day two, Augustana notched three more victories, including another event sweep. Kayla Mescher won her second straight NSIC Indoor 800-meter championship and Aduo Omot broke the NSIC conference meet record in the men’s 800 meters. Emma Anderson (So., Sarona, Wis.) added the final crown for the Vikings, taking the women’s 1,000-meter run in wire-to-wire fashion. The Vikings are guaranteed to send five athletes (one relay) with their automatic qualifying times, but 22 athletes have hit provisional marks this season and they will wait for the NCAA selections.

Bemidji State
The Bemidji State University track and field team capped the 2014 indoor season by hosting Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Championships Feb. 28-March1. The Beavers concluded the season establishing 11 personal records at the meet.  

Concordia-St. Paul
Both of Concordia-St. Paul’s track and field teams improved on their performance from last year as the men’s team took home a ninth place finish with 24.5 points and the women’s team finished 12th with nine points.
Women’s Track: Michelle Ndely (Hurdles, 5’6”, So., Champlin, Minn / Champlin Park HS)
Ndely took home a third place finish in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.84 seconds. The finish gave the team six points to get them on the board. The women finished with nine total points.
Women’s Field: Martina Ware (Throws, 5’6”, Jr., Eagan, Minn., Eastview HS)
Ware set a PR with in the weight throw with a distance of 15.94 meters. The mark put her in 10th in the event as she finished just outside of scoring.

University of Mary
Women’s Track: Gunning for its fourth straight title NSIC Women’s Indoor Track & Field title, 19th ranked University of Mary fell four points shy, placing second to Minnesota Duluth 143-139. The Marauders trailed by 24 points after opening day and couldn’t fully close the gap. Senior Janet Johnson led the Marauders with two titles, capturing both the long jump and the 60 meter hurdles. Her time of 8.37 in the 60 hurdles was a school and NSIC record and the fourth best time in the country. The Marauders won four other titles. Kathryn Stewart defended her 200 meter crown and led the 4x400 relay team to a win. Also running on the relay squad was Crystal Hovland, Cassandra Jones and Melanie Rodriguez. Hovland won the 600 meter run and Danylle Kurywchak captured the triple jump.
 
Minnesota Duluth
Women Track/Field:  Buoyed by a litany of stellar individual performances, particularly in the distance events, the University of Minnesota Duluth laid clam to the team title at the 2014 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, which wrapped up Saturday on the campus of Bemidji State University. The Bulldogs rolled up 143 points as a team to dethrone defending champion and runnerup University of Mary (139 points) and capture their first conference indoor crown since 2004.  UMD freshman Samantha Rivard finished as the meet’s leading point getter (28), aided by first-place showing in both the mile (4:57.66) and 5,000-meter runs (17:06.50) Saturday. She also took second in the 3,000-meter run one day earlier.  Besides Rivard, UMD produced another one other individual champion in sophomore Kayla Wlitrout, who topped the field in the pole vault with a school-record 3.81-meter effort. Also contributing to the Bulldogs’ point coffers Saturday were freshman Breanna Colbenson (2nd place; 17:18.84) and junior Alexandra Rudin (5th; 17:38.62) in the 5,000-meter run; sophomore Hannah Olson (4th; 5:05.88) and junior Amanda Boman (7th; 5:10.52) in the mile run; junior Victoria Zoller (3rd; 2:17),  Johnson (6th; 2:19.66) and freshman Cassandra Ortberg (7th; 2:20.77) in the 800-meter run; senior Jacque Thaemert (3rd; 2:59.60), sophomore Hannah Olson (6th; 3:03.01) and senior Hannah Wurl ( junior Chanel Miller, who rolled up the most individual points at the NSIC indoors in 2013, in the 60-meter hurdles (4th; 8.88); junior Amelia Maher in the 600-meter run (5th; 1:36.70), junior Erin Pangerl in the 60-meter dash (6th; 7.88) and freshman Stefani Friedenfel in the triple jump (11.02 meters). KayIn addition, the 4 x 400 relay team of Maher, sophomore Madeline Schaeffer, senior Kaitlin Hassing and Ortberg, placed eighth in the final event of the day.
 
MInnesota State
Women Track & Field:  On the women’s side the Mavericks finished in fourth place with a total of 77.16 points. Their fourth-place finish is the highest they have placed since finishing third at the meet in 2010. Freshman Brieanna Puckett earned eight points with a leap of 18’ 7” for the Purple and Gold placing second in the long jump. Junior Morgan Stampley placed fourth in the weight throw earning five team points with a throw of 58’ 5.25”. In the triple jump junior Anna Veroeven finished in second place with a leap of 38’ 8 ¼”. Sophomore Faryn Wirkus and junior Bryanna Sudman paced the Mavericks in the pole vault with vaults of 12’ finishing in a tie for second place. Freshman Maddi Sjellin earned eight points for the Purple and Gold for her second-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.35. Freshman Taylor Glover place fourth in the 600-meter run crossing the finish line with a time of 1:36.29. Sophomore Holly Suss had a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash finishing with a time of 25.65. Brieanna Puckett also had a fourth-place but in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.86.
 
MSU Moorhead
Women’s Track: : Junior Tia Knight had an outstanding NSIC Indoor Championship performance for MSUM women. She won the 60-meter dash title with a time of 7.62, which is an NCAA provisional qualifying time. She placed second in the 60-meter hurdles (8.59, also an NCAA provisional qualifying time) and third in the 200-meter dash at 26.62. Knight earned All-NSIC honors in all three events. Also earning All-NSIC honors for MSUM was sophomore Molly Montonye, who finished second in the mile.
Women’s Field: Junior Chelsea Klemetson earned All-NSIC honors in the high jump with a second-place finish during Friday’s competition at the NSIC Indoor Championships.

Minot State
Sienna Dailey (Jr., Sprints, Glasgow, Mont.) had an outstanding showing at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Bemidji, Minn. this past weekend. Dailey recorded a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 57.26 seconds. It was Minot State’s first ever event title since joining the NSIC in the 2012-13 season. That time not only secured the conference title, but she also hit the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark. he wasn’t finished quite yet as Dailey then placed seventh in the 200 meter dash with a personal best time of 25.87 seconds and then also helped the women’s 4x400 team capture sixth place in the NSIC.
Erica Clark had a fantastic day for the women’s team as she placed fourth overall in the 800-meter run with a personal best of two minutes, 19.59 seconds, improving her own school record from the day before. Also having a solid day for MISU was Kara Kuntz (Jr., Mid-Distance, Voltaire, N.D.) who place eighth in the 800 meter run with a personal best time of 2:24.56 while also placing eighth in the mile with a time of 5:12.50. The women finished 22 overall points, placing them 10th overall in the NSIC. The 22 points is a 21-point improvement from a season ago.

Northern State
The Northern State men’s and women’s track and field teams closed-out the NSIC Indoor Championships Saturday afternoon in Bemidji, Minn. Both the NSU men and women finished in a tie for 10th-place in the team standings.
Men’s Track: Brandon Krein earned All-NSIC honors Saturday at the championships as he placed third for the Wolves in the 1,000 meters, running a career-best time of 2:32.26 in the event. Krein was also a part of NSU’s 4x400-meter relay team that placed eighth in a time of 3:26.54. Joining Krein on the relay were Andrew Johnson, Nick Lindwurm and Zach Six.

Southwest Minnesota State
Women Field: SMSU freshman Rylee Armstrong (Peace River, Alberta, Canada) advanced to the finals in the triple jump and finished ninth with a jump of 10.83m (35-6.5).
SMSU was competing in its first women’s and men’s conference championship since the 1992 season.

Sioux Falls
The University of Sioux Falls Track & Field team wrapped up day two at the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships and had the men finish third overall while the women finished eighth while compiling eight All-Conference honors over the two days. In the team standings, the Cougar men finished third overall with 86.5 points. They trailed runner-up Augustana by 30.5 points while Minnesota State claimed the title with 184 total points. For the women, USF finished in eighth place with 51.33 points while Minnesota-Duluth (143) and U-Mary (139) claimed the top two spots in the field.
Women Field:  Samantha Slaubaugh (PV, Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D./O’Gorman HS) was the lone female Cougar vaulter to earn All-Conference honors as her NCAA provisional qualifying vault of 12-0 (3.66m) placed her in a tie for second place.
Women Track: Kendra Knight (Sprints, Sr., Mitchell, S.D./Mitchell HS) had an impressive showing for the Cougars at the NSIC Championships this past weekend as she placed third in the 400m Dash with her time of 57.76. Knight also earned another All-Conference honor as a member of the runner-up 4x400m Relay that ran a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:56.05.

St. Cloud State
St. Cloud State track and field ended the NSIC Indoor Championships with two individual titles and finished fourth (81 pts.) for the men and ninth (23.5 pts.) for the women in the team standings.
Women’s Track: Senior Kassie Vaness and freshman Sam Sunstrom in the 3,000m run. Vaness finished sixth on a time of 10:13.22, while Sunstrom took ninth for a time of 10:17.52. Vaness also finished sixth in the 5,000m run with a provisional qualifying time of 17:44.02, while Sunstrom took ninth on a time of 17:56.29. The Huskies women’s 4x400m relay team consisting of Jasmine Grant, Alicia Evans, Jenny Gilbreath and Alicia Lipka placed seventh in the finals with a time of 3:59.03.
Women’s Field: On the women’s side freshman Patience Yalartai took fourth in the long jump posting a jump of 18-03.00, this is also a provisional qualifying mark for Nationals. Yalartai also finished third in the triple jump finals with a jump of 37-06.00. Sophomore Kellan Flynn tied for seventh place in the high jump off a mark of 5-03.75.

Wayne State
Women’s Track & Field: Wayne State junior All-American Sara Wells placed first Saturday in the shot put to highlight the final day for the Wayne State women’s indoor track and field team at the Northern Sun Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in Bemidji, Minnesota.  The Wildcats placed sixth in the team standings with 54 points, scoring 15 more points than last season while finishing one place better than last year.
The Wildcats finished with two individual conference champions and five All-Conference performers.  Individual conference champions included senior Emily Wells in the weight throw and Sara Wells in the shot put while earning All-Conference honors for placing second or third included Carly Fehringer in weight throw and shot put and Jessi Pongratz in the shot put.
Saturday, the Wildcats swept the top three spots in the shot put as junior All-American claimed conference champion honors with a mark of 49’ 3”.  Wayne senior Carly Fehringer received All-Conference honors with a second place finish at 47’ 11 ¼” along with O’Neill freshman Jessi Pongratz who came in third at 45’ 7 ¼”, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
he Wildcats scored 25 of Friday’s 30 points in the weight throw as Emily Wells, a senior from Albion, captured first place with an NCAA provisional mark of 59’ 1 ½”.  Wayne senior Carly Fehringer was right behind in second with a top throw of 59’ ¾”.  Also placing in the event for Wayne State was junior Sara Wells coming in fifth place at 57’ 8 ¼” while sophomore Kyndra Sturm finished in eighth at 54’ 1 ¾”.
Norfolk sophomore Amanda Ramberg brought home a fifth place finish in the high jump clearing 5’ 3 ¾”, Sidney Blum took eighth in the long jump at 17’ 6 ¼” while the distance medley relay team of Skyler Lippman, Rebecca Davenport, Elizabeth Pille and Cristina Murillo closed out Friday’s scoring with a seventh place finish crossing the line in a time of 12:56.70.

Winona State
Women’s Track & Field: The Winona State track and field team recorded a pair of top-three finishes on the final day of the NSIC Indoor Championship to place fifth as a team at the conference championship meet. Katie Bagley recorded the top individual performance of the day for Winona State, placing third in the 600 meters with a time of 1:36.10.  Bagley was also a part of the WSU 4x400 meter relay squad that finished third in that event. Kelsey Bethke, Taylor Vogel and Catherine Whitcomb teamed with Bagley to record the third-place finish with a time of 3:56.65.
 Whitcomb led the Warriors with a pair of top-five individual finishes, placing fourth in the 400 meters with a NCAA Indoor Championship provisional mark of 57.93 while also placing fifth in the 200 meters with a time of 25.71. Bethke added a seventh-place finish in the 400 with a time of 58.84.
Jordan Skelly was also able to add points to the Warrior team total in two events, finishing fifth in the mile with a time of 5:06.45 and adding an eighth-place showing in the 5000 meters.
 Two Warriors scored points in the triple jump, with Andrea Bartz finishing fifth (11.30 meters) and Annie Weinrich finishing sixth (11.10).
Natalie Jech and Paige Garriga rounded out the Warrior scorers, finishing eighth in the 1000 meters and shot put, respectively.