For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
NSIC Media Relations

NSIC Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week
Sara Wells
Senior
Albion, Neb.
Boone Central HS
Wayne State

Wells hit two NCAA automatic qualifying marks and an NCAA provisional qualifying mark on Saturday at the Nebraska Kearney Loper Invite in Kearney, Neb.  She started the day with a 52’ 1 3/4” in the shot put, which currently leads NCAA DII by just over a foot.  She followed that with a new WSC school record in the discus with a mark of 165’ 1”, which ranks fourth in NCAA DII and is an NCAA automatic qualifying mark.  She finished her day with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the hammer throw of 171’ 0”, which is 23rd in the NCAA rankings.

NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week
Jordan Skelly
Senior
Buffalo, Minn.
Buffalo HS
Winona State

Skelly won the steeplechase at the Ashton May Invite in La Crosse, Wis. in an NCAA II provisional qualifying time and school record mark of 10:46.67.  This time places her atop the NSIC and seventh in NCAA Division II. Skelly shattered her previous steeplechase record besting her previous record by more than 12 seconds.

NSIC Team Notes
Augustana
Augustana’s track and field opened the outdoor season hosting the Vance Butler Invitational this past Friday at Howard Wood Field.
Women’s Track: Irene Almarcha dominated the women’s 100-meter hurdles, finishing with the top mark and set a new school record with a time of 13.99 seconds.  
Women’s Field: Kelsey Kaufmann also turned in an impressive performance in the women’s high jump, earning runner-up honors. The junior from Arlington, S.D. recorded a leap of 1.63 meters (5 feet, 4.25 inches) on Friday at Howard Wood Field.
The Vikings return to action next weekend traveling to Orange City, Iowa for the Red Raider Open.

Bemidji State
Bemidji State opens the outdoor portion of its schedule this weekend.  The Beavers will participate in the St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict’s Outdoor Invitational Saturday, before choosing to participate in either the Hamline Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. or the Marauder Open in Bismarck, N.D., depending on the weather conditions.

Concordia-St. Paul
The Concordia-St. Paul Track and Field team opened up their outdoor season at the Vance Butler Invitational at Howard Wood Field on the campus of Augustana College.
Women’s Field: Martina Ware, coming off a trip to NCAA IDTF Championships, put up a solid performance as she placed second in the shot put. Ware fell just over half a foot short of the school record as she finished with a distance of 43’1.75”. Freshman Gretchen Feilen came even closer to setting a school record as she was an inch and a half shy of Joy Wubben’s record in the high jump, set back in 2003. Feilen took home a seventh place finish with a height of 5’0.25”.

University of Mary
#14 U-Mary won seven titles and posted two NCAA provisional qualifying marks at the Vance Butler Invitational. Cassandra Jones won the 400 meter dash and Kathryn Stewart the 100. The duo then joined Kameya Johnson and Josie Guptill to win the 400 meter relay. Molly McDonald won the high jump.
Women’s Track: Alexis Zeis (Fr., Bismarck, N.D. / Bismarck HS) won the 5,000 meter run at the Vance Butler Open with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 17:15.85.  She is the top-ranked 5,000 meter runner in the NSIC and 13th in NCAA Division II.  The next closest collegiate runner finished 1:42.20 behind Zeis in the race.
Women’s Field: Danylle Kurywchak (Jr., Cameron Park, Calif.) was a double winner in the jumps at the Vance Butler Open. She won the triple jump with a leap of 41’ 4.25”, an NCAA provisional qualifying distance and  over three feet better than second place finisher.  She ranks second in the nation in the triple jump.  She also captured long jump with an effort of 18’ 4.5”.
The Marauders next compete at home in the Marauder Open on Sunday, April 12.

Minnesota Duluth
The University of Minnesota Duluth took a handful of athletes to the Friday’s Ashton May Invitational on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus to launch the 2015 outdoor track and field season. Two Bulldogs captured individual titles at that event.
Women’s Track: Freshman McKenzie Holt took first in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:47.25. Junior  Hannah Olson and sophomore Breanna Colbenson finished second and third, respectively, in the 3000-meter steeplechase with NCAA II provisional-qualifying times of 10:56.36 and 11:10.63.
Women’s Field: Senior Jennifer Hitchcock won the women’s hammer throw, going 50.20 meters.
The Bulldogs will split up their team next weekend, with some taking part in Hamline University Invitational on Saturday (April 11) in St. Paul and others trekking to Des Moines, Iowa, for the two-day Jim Duncan Invitational, which starts Friday.

Minnesota State
MSU traveled to Sioux Falls to participate in the Vance Butler Invitational. Faryn Wirkus and Bryanna Sudman both reached a final mark of 11’11.75” in the pole vault with Wirkus ending up on top when the day wrapped up.  Anna Veroeven finished second in the triple jump at 36’11.5”.  Brieanna Puckett and Sid’Reshia Floyd finished fourth and fifth in the 200-meters with Puckett on top at 25.52.  Taylor Glover took home the second spot in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.39.  Sophomore Maddi Sjelin followed that with another second-place finish in the 800-meters at 2:20.97.  The 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of Briana Holt, Floyd, Karlona Gregory and Puckett finished first with a final time of 49.34.
Women’s Field: Junior Faryn Wirkus (Edgar, Wis.) returned to Mankato with the pole vault title in hand.  She cleared 11’11.75” joining teammate Bryanna Sudman in reaching a provisional qualifying standard.   

MSU Moorhead
Women’s Track: Molly Montonye (Distance, Jr., Graceville, Minn./Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley HS) had a strong performance in claiming the win in the women’s 1,500-meter run at the Vance Butler Invitational on Friday in Sioux Falls, S.D. She captured the victory with a time of 4:45.07, which is second-fastest in the NSIC so far this outdoor season.
Women’s Field: Caroline Jansen (Fr., Jumps/Hurdles, Bertha, Minn./Brandon Evansville HS) had a pair of top eight finishes for MSUM at the Vance Butler Invitational on Friday in Sioux Falls.  She placed third in the triple jump at 36-5 and was seventh in the long jump at 16-6 3/4.

Minot State
Minot State competed in its second meet of the year at the Vance Butler Memorial Track & Field meet in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Women’s Track: Erica Clark (Mid-Distance, 5-8, Jr., Gardena, Calif. / Gardena / West Lost Angeles College) finished third in the women’s 800-meters, following up a title last week, for a solid start to the outdoor season. She ran a season best 2:22.71 seconds, four seconds under her time in week one. Sienna Dailey (Sprints, Sr., 5-9, Glasgow, Mont. / Glasgow) finished with a pair of sixth-place finishes in the women’s 200-meters and 400-meters.
She ran a 25.88 in the 200 and finished off with a 59.99 in the 400.

Northern State
The Northern State University women’s track and field team traveled to the Vance Butler Invite this past weekend. The Wolves recorded 11 top five finishes on the weekend, led by Mariah Nelson and Haylee Biel. Nelson took first in the women’s discus, while Biel earned the top spot in the Javelin. Sami Smith was the top running finisher for NSU, taking fourth in the 800m.
Women’s Field: Senior Mariah Nelson (Throws, Sr., Mitchell, SD / Mitchell Christian HS) recorded her first career national qualifying mark in the discus event, which secured the win by well over a meter with a distance of 44.75m (146’10”). That mark currently places Nelson 29th in NCAA DII. Nelson would add a third place in the shot put with a throw of 12.74m (41’10”).

Southwest Minnesota State
SMSU opened their outdoor season at the Vance Butler Invitational hosted by Augustana.
Women’s Track: Freshman Kim Shabino (Spencer, Iowa / Spencer HS) placed 10th out of 35 in the 200-meter dash (26.09) and 13th out of 27 in the 400-meter dash (1:02.90).
Women’s Field: Freshman Naomi Dalton (Madrid, Iowa / Madrid HS) finished sixth out of 26 in the discus with a mark of 39.78m, was 10th in the shot put with a throw of 11.68m and was 23rd in the hammer throw with a toss of 33.38m.

Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls opened their outdoor season at the Vance Butler Invitational hosted by Augustana.
Women’s Track: Katlyn Sawtelle (Multis, Sr., Luverne, Minn. / Luverne HS) ran a person-best 200-meter dash, finishing second in the 35-athlete field. She clocked a 25.19-second half lap, finishing just one tenth of a second behind the winner.
Women’s Field: Kimberly Peterson (Pole Vault, Fr., Elizabeth, Colo. / Elizabeth HS) took fourth in the women’s pole vault at the Vance Butler Invitational as she cleared the same height as three other competitors, but was relegated to fourth based on her misses. Her clearance of 3.65 meters (11 feet-11.75 inches) reached the qualifying standard and is 14th in Division II this season

St. Cloud State
SCSU competed at the Vance Butler Memorial Invitational hosted by Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Women’s Track: Becky Schmidt (Sr. White Bear Lake, Minn.) won the 200 meter dash in 25.18. Schmidt also had a second place finish in the long jump with a mark of 5.56 meters. Jasmine Grant (So. Surrey, Canada) ran the 200 meters in 25.51 to place third. Grant also had a seventh place finish in the 400 meter dash on 1.00.01.
Women’s Field: Patience Yalartai (Bloomington, Minn.) had a third place finish in the long jump with a leap of 5.45 meters and was fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 10.85 meters.

Wayne State
Women’s Track: Megan Svitak (Sr., Howells, Neb.) raced to a personal best time of 14.74 in the prelims in the 100 meter hurdles, then followed that with a time of 14.95 seconds in the finals to take second place at the UNK Loper Invite in Kearney, Neb.
Women’s Field: Sara Wells  (Sr., Albion, Neb) hit two NCAA automatic qualifying marks and an NCAA provisional qualifying mark on Saturday at the UNK Loper Invite in Kearney, Neb.  She started the day with a 52’ 1 3/4” in the shot put, which currently leads NCAA DII by just over a foot.  She followed that with a new WSC school record in the discus with a mark of 165’ 1”, which ranks fourth in NCAA DII and is an NCAA automatic qualifying mark.  She finished her day with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the hammer throw of 171’ 0”, which is 23rd in the NCAA rankings.

Winona State
Women’s Track: Jordan Skelly (Sr, Buffalo, Minn.) won the Steeplechase at the Ashton May Invite in a NCAA II Provisional Qualifying time and school record of 10:46.67.  This time places her atop the NSIC and seventh in NCAA II.
Women’s Field:  Alissa Rausch (Sr, Merrill, Wis.) won the hammer throw at the Central College Invitational on Thursday and went on the be the highest placing collegian at the UNK Loper Open on Saturday.  Her mark at Central College places her atop the NSIC and tenth in NCAA II.

NSIC Athletes of the Week
Women’s Field
4/7/15    Sara Wells - Wayne State
Women’s Track
4/7/15    Jordan Skelly - Winona State