Vikings dominate indoor track and field championships
The Vikings delivered a strong showing at the NSIC Indoor Track and Field Championships at Minnesota State this weekend. The men’s team finished second behind Minnesota State with 89 points, and the women’s team placed third with 77.5 points, trailing Minnesota State and UMary.
Some familiar faces were involved in the action over the weekend, including senior distance runner Ryan Hartman. Hartman continued his dominance over the competition by claiming three NSIC titles. He ran a blazing 4:11.78 mile, an 8:35.97 in the 3000-meter and a 10:09.56 in the 4,000-meter distance medley along with juniors Nick Batchelor, Will Sugrue and freshman Tyler Christianson. Despite his exceptional performance, Hartman said he didn’t do anything special to prepare for the meet.
“This meet wasn’t one that I stressed too much, just because I had already had my National qualifying times,” Hartman said.
Batchelor, sophomore Tyson Ricker, freshmen Bryant Keller, Payton Brown and Isaiah Anderson all joined Hartman, placing in the top-10 men’s mile runners.
In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Andrew Martens broke the Augustana school record with a time of 7.82 seconds to claim the NSIC title in the event. In the men’s 4x400-meter finals, Christianson, junior Trent DeCook, freshmen Liam Schick and Jude Jarding took fifth place with a time of 3:20.04.
The Vikings saw their final men’s champion in the 1000-meter run, with a time of 2:31.26 from junior Alex Otten.
The women's track and field team was equally as impressive. In the 400-meter dash, seniors Nyanas Kur finished fifth and Maia Peterson finished eighth. Kur also placed seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.21. Kur explained the team's approach going into the meet.
“Instead of raising the ceiling, we raised the floor,” Kur said. “We just wanted to shoot above our average.”
Seniors Maria Pedroso and Kylee Sallee earned second and third in the women's pentathlon, which is scored collectively over five events: 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and the 800m sprint.
“[Maria and Kylee] had good seasons but really had phenomenal performances at the meet this weekend,” head coach Scott Tanis said.
Junior Tenley Nelson finished in the women's 1000-meter run with a third-place finish and a time of 3:00.65.
Later in the day, junior Lindsey Young clocked a time of 5:05.00, earning a personal record and seventh place in the women’s mile.
Dual-sport athlete junior Bryn Greenwaldt turned heads when she qualified for nationals in the women's high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 6 inches and a third-place finish. Greenwaldt, while a talented high jumper, tends to spend most of her time in the swimming pool: She is a national qualifier for the swim team as well.
Tanis was happy with the overall performance of the teams this weekend and expects more impressive performances at the NCAA DII indoor national track and field championships – particularly from Hartman, who is ranked seventh nationally in the mile. Tanis also said he could see Martens, Pedroso and Sallee making some noise at the national championships.
The NCAA DII indoor national championships will be held from Thursday, March 13 to Saturday, March 15 at the Fall Creek Pavilion at Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The Vikings will then begin to prepare for their outdoor season beginning April 4 at the USD Early Bird meet in Vermillion, South Dakota.
