For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
NSIC Media Relations

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


NSIC Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week
Hannah Olson
Junior
Richfield, Minn.
Richfield HS
Minnesota Duluth

Olson won the steeplechase at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa and did so in a school record time of 10:38, which provisionally qualified her for the NCAA meet and puts her at the sixth fastest time in NCAA Division II this season. Olson broke Morgan Place’s previous school mark of 10:50.46, which she set on April 14, 2012.

NSIC Team Notes
Augustana
Augustana competed at the Red Raider Open in Orange City, Iowa.
Women’s Track: Freshman Leah Seivert took the top mark clocking a time of 4:47.86 to headline the women’s 1,500-meter run this past Saturday at the Red Raider Open.
Women’s Field: Junior Calliann Brunswig placed second in the women’s long jump with a clearance of 5.57 meters (18’ 3.25”), followed by competing in the 100-meter hurdles. Brunswig also tabbed a top-five finish clocking a time of 14.98 to finish third.

Bemidji State
Bemidji State opened the 2015 outdoor season April 11-12 at the College of St. Benedict’s Spring Invitational and the Marauder Open.
Women’s Track: Sara Melom (So., Dawson, Minn.), who placed second and established an outdoor-best in the 400-meter dash (59.76) and took runner-up honors in the high jump (5-0.25), led the Beavers Saturday at the College of St. Benedicts.
Women’s Field: Ciara Brewster (Jr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) posted personal-bests in both the hammer throw (128-07) and discus (111-03) at the College of St. Benedict Saturday, placing third and sixth, respectively.
Sunday, BSU was led by Hailey Horob, who stretched the tape to 10-11 in the pole vault at take third.

Concordia-St. Paul
Women’s Track: Gloria Williams (So., Minneapolis, Minn. / Roosevelt HS) took first in the 100m dash as she came within .20 of the school record at the Hamline Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. She also took first in the 200m dash and was part of a 4X100 meter relay team that took third.
CU will host the Holst Invitational on Saturday the 18th.

University of Mary
U-Mary won 10 of the 18 events at the Marauder Open on Sunday, the first home meet since the school hosted the 2012 NSIC outdoor championships. Double winners included Molly McDonald (100 meter hurdles and high jump), Danylle Kurywchak (triple and long jumps) and Kathryn Stewart (100 and 200). Other winners included Davina Carr (provisional qualifying mark in pole vault), Brienna Lynch (800) Kaycie Stewart (3,000) and Julie Dinius (400 meter hurdles).  
Women’s Track: Kathryn Stewart (Sr., Kingston, Jamaica) posted two wins at the Marauder Open, the last home meet for the seven-time All-American.  She captured the 100 meter dash in a time of 11.82 and won the 200 meter dash in 24.67 as she owns the top times in the NSIC in both events.
Women’s Field: Danylle Kurywchak (Jr., Cameron Park, Calif.) won both the triple jump and the long jump at the Marauder Open. She captured the triple jump with a school-record mark of 41’ 8.75”, which was also an NCAA automatic qualifying mark.  She opened the day with a win in the long jump, posting an NCAA provisional distance of 19’ 4.75” and currently leads the NSIC in both events.  She also ranks third nationally in the triple jump and is 14th in the long jump.

Minnesota Duluth
UMD sent athletes to the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa and sent a larger contingent of Bulldogs to Saturday’s Hamline Invitational in St. Paul, Minn.
Women’s Track: Hannah Olson won the steeplechase at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa and did it in a school record time of 10:38, which provisionally qualified her for the NCAA meet and puts her at the sixth fastest time in NCAA Division II this season.
Women’s Field: Senior Katherine Ayers took third in the discus throw (42.90 meters) at the Hamline Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. Freshman Katie Hawkinson was also third in the triple jump (10.75 meters). In addition, senior Jennifer Hitchcock claimed fourth in the hammer throw (45.71 meters).
UMD will pay a visit to Northfield, Minn., next Saturday (April 18) for the Carleton Relays.

Minnesota State
The MSU women travelled to the Lee Krough Invitational in St. Peter, Minn. and returned to the Key City with a few first-place titles to their name.   
Women’s Track: Mackenzie Beals (Jr., Marshalltown, Iowa) finished the Lee Krough Invitational on Saturday with a pair of first-place titles to her name.  She won the 100-meter dash with a final time of 12.28.  Following that, she grabbed the 200-meters as well with her posting of 25.28.
Redshirt freshman Kimmy Wreh won the 400-meters with a time of 1:01.15.  Senior Halee Peterson had similar results in the 1,500-meters with her posting of 4:53.49.  Junior Brooke Foreman also brought home a win in the 110-meter hurdles at 14.42.
Women’s Field: Bryanna Sudman (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) took home yet another first-place title in the pole vault this past weekend in St. Peter, Minn.  Sudman vaulted to a NCAA provisional mark of 12’3.5”, which also currently ranks her 11th across all of Division II.
Fellow senior Anna Veroeven wrapped up the meet with two other first-place titles in both the triple jump and javelin.  

MSU Moorhead
Women’s Track: Tia Knight (Sr., Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) had a good day at the NSU Open on Saturday with two wins. She won the 100-meter dash in 12.08, which is second-fastest in the NSIC this season, and added a win in the 200-meter dash in 24.96, which is third-fastest in the NSIC this year.
Women’s Field: Chelsea Klemetson (Sr., Sabin, Minn./Moorhead HS) had a strong showing for the Dragon women at the NSU Open on Saturday. She won the high jump with an effort of 5-7 1/4, which is an NCAA provisional qualifying height and the top mark in the NSIC this outdoor season.
 
Minot State
Minot State University finished with 10 personal bests and 13 season bests at the University of Mary Marauder Open Sunday.
Women’s Track: Sienna Dailey (Sr., Glasgow, Mont. / Glasgow HS) won the 400m dash with a time of 58.82 seconds, her second title in the event this spring. She was also fourth overall in the  200m dash with a time of 25.68.
DelRay Audet (Jr., Minot, N.D. / Minot) had a busy day, competing in both the 400 hurdles (fourth – 1:06.87) and the 100 hurdles (fourth – 15.70) and a relay. She also helped the women’s 4x400-meter relay team to a first-place finish with a time of 4:09.97.
Minot State will split into two groups this weekend as a group will travel to the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., Thursday-Saturday, and a second team will travel to Dickinson, N.D., for the Dickinson State Blue Hawk Games Saturday.

Northern State
Northern State hosted the NSU Invite this past weekend. The Wolves posted numerous top-five finishes on the day, led by Mariah Nelson (discus/shot put), Breann Jackson (hammer), Michaela Schlecht (javelin), Lindsey Gast (1500m run), and Sasha Hovind (3000m run) with first places finishes. Next up for the Wolves is the Sioux City Relays next Friday and Saturday, April 17th and 18th.
Women’s Track: Sasha Hovind finished a whopping 20 seconds ahead of her teammate, Dakotah Bullen, in the 3000m race. Sasha finished with a time of 10:25.60, while Bullen hit the line at 10:45.26.
Women’s Field: Mariah Nelson shined in the field events to open Saturday competition. Nelson took top marks in both the discus (44.55m) and the shot put (13.25m) to lead the NSU women. Mariah also tallied a fourth place finish in the women’s hammer, adding to her stellar day from Aberdeen.

Southwest Minnesota State
Women’s Track: Freshman Kim Shabino (Spencer, Iowa / Spencer HS) placed fourth in the 200 meter dash (25.65) and fifth in the 100 meter dash (12.51) at the Red Raider Open hosted by Northwestern College (Iowa) on Saturday.
Women’s Field: Sophomore Riley Armstrong (Peace River, Alberta, Canada / Glenmary HS) earned a third-place mark in the triple jump with a mark of 11.29 at the Red Raider Open hosted by Northwestern College (Iowa) on Saturday. In the heptathlon she placed third with 3,821 points. She finished second in the high jump (1.53m), long jump (5.25m), shot put (10.13m) and javelin (31.78m) and was third in the 200 meter dash (28.42).

Sioux Falls
With the Sioux Falls Track & Field team competing at the Red Raider Open, it was Katlyn Sawtelle who shined brightest for the Cougars while competing at the Emporia State Multis on Thursday and Friday. Sawtelle ran away with the title, breaking her own school record and reaching a provisional qualifying mark in the process. At the Red Raider Open, Sioux Falls recorded five event wins.
Women’s Track: Rachel Huffman (So., Potter, Neb./Gering HS) finished as runner-up in the women’s 10,000-meter run with a personal-best time
of 39:31.46 to finish in second place.
Women’s Field: Katlyn Sawtelle (Sr., Luverne, Minn./Luverne HS) won the women’s heptathlon and broke her own school record at the ESU Multis.  She posted a provisional mark of 5,049 points, which ranks sixth in Division II this season. She ran a personal-best 14.69 seconds in the 100-meters hurdles and also recorded a PR in the javelin with a throw of 34.61 meters (113 feet-6 inches).  
Marissa Whipple capped off the Cougars’ trip to Orange City, Iowa by winning the women’s shot put.
The Cougars will send three distance runners to the Mt. SAC Relays and the rest of their squad to the Kansas Relays with both competitions taking place on April 16-18.  

St. Cloud State
St. Cloud State had a solid outing at the Hamline Invitational held Saturday, April 11 in St. Paul.
Women’s Track: The women’s 4x100 relay team of Patience Yalartai, Becky Schmidt, Jasmine Grant and Alicia Evans won the race in 48.96.
Women’s Field: Becky Schmidt captured first in the long jump with a mark of 18-01.50. Patience Yalartai was first in the triple jump with a leap of 39-05.75. Yalartai also had a second place finish in the long jump with a mark of 18-01.00.

Wayne State
Women’s Track: Mary Alderson (So., Fremont, Neb.) raced to a fifth place finish in the 200m dash at the Concordia Invite in a time of 26.33, just shy of her season best mark the previous week.
Women’s Field: Sara Wells (Sr., Albion, Neb.) rewrote the WSC record books with two big throws on Saturday at the Concordia Invite.  She won the discus with a new Wayne State record and NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 169’ 5, an improvement of over four feet on her previous school record and the third farthest throw in Division II this season. She then claimed the title in the shot put with another NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 53’ 4 1/2”, a new school record and the number one mark in NCAA Division II.  Finally, she had a mark of 174’ 6, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and the 20th best throw in Division II, in the hammer throw.

Winona State
Women’s Track: Katie Bagley (Jr., Janesville, Wis.) ran a NSIC leading 2:15.48 in the 800m run to place third at the Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic this weekend.  
Women’s Field:  Alissa Rausch (Sr., Merrill, Wis.) had an outstanding meet at the Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic this weekend.  Rausch won the discus with an automatic qualifying throw of 171’ 4” (52.22m) beating the number one ranked discus thrower in Division II.  Also in the field were 11 of the top 40 and three of the top seven discus throwers in Division II.  Rausch also placed second in the hammer throw, behind the Division II national leader, with a lifetime best throw of 188’ 8” (57.71m).  This moves her up to sixth in Division II this spring.

NSIC Athletes of the Week
Women’s Field
4/7/15    Sara Wells - Wayne State
4/14/15    Sara Wells - Wayne State (2)
Women’s Track
4/7/15    Jordan Skelly - Winona State
4/14/15   Hannah Olson - Minnesota Duluth