For Immediate Release
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
NSIC Media Relations


NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year
University of Mary’s Kathryn Stewart (Jr., Kingston, Jamaica) was voted by the league coaches as the NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.  Another spectacular performance at the conference championships by Stewart helped lead the University of Mary to a fourth straight team title. The senior from Kingston, Jamaica, won four events at this year’s championships. She captured the 200 meter dash for third straight year and also won the 100 meter dash. Stewart separated from the field on the final leg on the Marauders winning 4x100 meter relay and ran on the victorious and NSIC record-setting 4x400 meter relay team. In her four outdoor seasons, she has been a part of a conference championship team each year and won a combined 11 individual and relay team titles. A seven-time All-American and the 2015 NSIC Indoor Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, Stewart currently ranks 9th nationally in the 100, 12th in the 200 and 25th in the 400.  Additionally the two Mary relay teams rank in the top 18 in the country.

NSIC Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year
Wayne State’s Sara Wells (Sr., Albion, Neb. / Boone Central HS) won her third straight NSIC outdoor shot put title with a new NSIC meet and school record throw of 54-1/2 at the NSIC/US Bank Championships.  She also earned All-NSIC honors with a second place effort in the discus (162-1) and took sixth in the hammer throw at 174-1. Wells is an NCAA automatic qualifier in the shot put and discus, ranking first in NCAA Division II in the shot put and third in the discus with a season-best mark of 169’-5.  She is a three-time NSIC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week this spring and was named Most Outstanding Female Athlete at the Sioux City Relays on April 18 after winning the shot put and discus while placing second in the hammer throw. Wells won the NSIC Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year last year as a junior and was also selected the USTFCCCA Central Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year.

NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Newcomer of the Year
Augustana’s Leah Seivert (Fr., Sibley, Iowa / Sibley-Ocheyedan HS) had a magnificent freshman campaign for the Vikings as she set two NSIC records at the NSIC/US Bank Championships. Seivert set her first record in winning the 10,000-meter run as she clocked a time of 34:55.57 to shatter the 35:27.70 record ran by Minnesota Duluth’s Morgan Place set back in 2010. With that mark, Seivert ranks second in the nation. Seivert broke her second record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships as she won the 5000-meter run in a time of 16:47.56, breaking the 1982 record of Minnesota State’s Lynn Nelson (16:59.66). Seivert also holds a personal-best time in the 10k which she captured at the Mt. Sac Relays on April 16 placing fourth overall with a time of 34:38.77. Her personal-best time in the 1,500-meter run is 4:47.86 when she placed first at the Red Raider Open on April 10.

NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year
University of Mary’s Mike Thorson was voted by his peers as NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of Year for the seventh time in the last nine years. Thorson led his Marauders to their fourth straight outdoor title and seventh in the last nine years. The Marauders scored 162 points at this year’s championship to win by 53 points. 


NCAA Championships Set for May 21-23 in Allendale, Mich.

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