DII Conference Weekend
DII Conference Weekend
The last of the 2010 indoor conference championships competed this past weekend. Many old rivalries were renewed and new ones created. This was the last weekend to post the qualifying marks needed for the 2010 DII indoor championships and this past weekend many did. I will highlight the automatic qualifying marks. The official list will be published on March 3rd(I will try to update with the link tomorrow) As usual, I encourage you to comment below, let me know if I missed anything, or what you think the hottest race will be at the championships?
GLIAC- Grand Valley State's women's track and field team claimed its 11th consecutive GLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championship. The Lakers tallied a team score of 225.5 points over Ashland University who scored 152. Hillsdale College finished third (136).
Grand Valley finished first at the with a team score of 167 points. Ashland finished second with 123 points followed by Tiffin (84.5). Both of Grand Valley’s teams were second headed into day two of the championships and were able to score enough points to win.
There were plenty of auto marks including; Findlay’s Curtis Smithey who won the 400 meters in 47.42, the Saginaw Valley due of Tony Filipek (1:50.47) and Charlie Richards (1:51.39) who went one and two in the 800 meters and Grand Valley’s Nate Miller who won the high jump with a clearance of 2.13 meters. The men’s 5000 meters saw seven men under 14:46.78. Grand Valley’s Paul Zielinski won with a provisional time of 14:37.52.
On the women’s side, most automatic qualifying marks came in the field and relay events. Grand Valley State’s Jocelyn Kuksa won the pole vault with a mark of 3.90 meters. Ashland’s Abby Kacsandi won the high jump with a mark of 1.74 meters. Both Grand Valley’s DMR (11:44.87) and 4x400 meters (3:43) automatically qualified. Grand Valley’s Candice Wheat ( 8.51) and Findlay’s Raven Clay (8.57) went first and second in the 60 meters to automatically qualify. The women’s 5000 meters mirrored the men’s with seven women under 17:47.23 but with only a provisional qualifying mark from Grand Valley’s Lynsey Ardingo (17:25.83).
GLVC- The University of Indianapolis men's team went back-and-forth with Missouri S&T to capture the school's first GLVC Indoor championship. University of Indianapolis finished with 171.5 points to hold off Missouri S&T which posted 167.5 points. Lewis was third with 87.5 points.There were no automatic qualifying marks but there were a few provisional. Wisconsin Parkside’s Ben Orvold won the 5,000 meters in a provisional mark of 14:46.47. The 55 meter hurdles was a tight race with Lewis’s James Knaperek winning in time of 7.62 and Missouri’s S&T’s Terry Robinson was second in 7.64.
The Lewis University women's team scored 195.5 points to capture the team title over Indianapolis (159 points) and Bellarmine (83 points). The Flyers won this year's crown after posting a second-place finish in each of the past two seasons. St. Joesph’s Meliss Buche in the high jump with a mark of 1.74 meters had the only auto mark of the meet. Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger (4:49.80, 17:40.68) and Lewis’s Kathryn Hague (17:07.11, 5:03.91) both provisionally qualified in the mile and 5,000 meters.
MIAA- Central Missouri finished with 137 points to win the men's championship. Central Missouri defeated runner-up Pittsburg State (114) by 23 points to claim the men's title. Missouri Southern finished in third place with 89 points. Pittsburg State’s Jeremy Jackson won the 60 meter with a 7.98, an automatic mark. Missouri Southern’s Brennan Benkert won the mile with an auto mark of 4:09.32. over Pittsburg State’s Mujahid Hassaballa (4:12.74). Southwest Baptist’s Frank Grant won the 200 meters in a time of 21.70
On the women’s side, Nebraska-Omaha finished 17.5 points ahead of runner-up Missouri Southern (109.5). Central Missouri placed third with 76 points. All automatic qualifying marks came in the field events; Emporia State’s Jennifer Robinson in the high jump hit a mark of 1.75 m, Truman State’s Katrina Bierman in the pole vault with a mark of 3.92 m. and Nebraska-Omaha’s Nkeruka Domike in the triple jump with a mark of 12.81m. The women’s 3000 meters was a hotly contested race with Missouri Southern’s Kimi Shank (9:54.90) topping her teammate Ashley Bunch (9:55.09) and Truman State’s Dani Dell’Orca was third with a 9:55.27.
NSIC- On the men’s side, Minnesota State Mankato took the team title with a time of 165 points followed by Minnesota State Moorhead (122 points) and Augustana (102.5 points). There were only two automatic qualifying marks. Bemidji State’s Zac Preble won the heptathlon with 5245 points. Minnesota State Mankato’s Dan Novak won the pole vault with the vault of 5.08m.
Augustana took the team title with on the women’s side with 146 points. University of Mary was second with 134 points followed by Minnesota State Mankato with 116 points. St. Cloud State’s Heather Miller won the Pentathlon with an automatic mark of 3910 points. Minnesota State Mankato’s Lauren Stelten won the pole vault with a vault of 4.01m. In the women’s 5,000 meters five women were under 17:37.28. Minnesota-Duluth’s Morgan Place won with a time of 17:04.60.
PSAC- The Lock Haven men took home the team title a narrow margin of 135-134.50 over East Stroudsburg. Shippensburg was third with 114 points. After failing to winning any events on the first day of competition and tied for first with Shippensburg, Lock Haven’s men’s team bounced back to win two on Sunday and had eight competitors place in the top three of an event. Kutztown’s William Hodge won the pole vault with a vault of 5.06m for an auto mark. California Pa’s Brice Myers won the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.04. The men’s mile had three runners hit provisional marks; Lock Haven’s Nick Hilton (4:08.78), Shippensburg’s Edward Buck (4:10.54) and Joshua Neyhart (4:11.55).
Shippensburg’s women’s took the team title with 173.25 points over Slippery Rock (154.50). East Stroudsburg was third with 80.75 points. Shippensburg’s Neely Spence won four events with a win in the 5,000-meter run and with Shippensburg’s winning 4,000-meter distance relay team on Saturday. She followed up that performance by winning the one-mile and 3,000-meter runs on Sunday. She hit an auto mark with a time of 16:46.35. She was followed by Mansfield’s Brenae Edwards who also automatically qualified with a time 16:48.48. Shippensburg had three who ran 5:00 or under in the mile, Spence (4:58.45), Dell (4:58.47) and Abigail Huber (5:00.79).
RMAC- Even without Aaron Braun and Brian Medigovich who were competing at the USA Track and Field championships, Adams State men took the team title with 189 points. Chadron State was second with 121 points and Nebraska Kearney was third with 116 points. Three teams automatically qualified in the DMR in a very tight race; Adams State (10:01.52), Metropolitan State (10:02.93) and Colorado School of the Mines (10:03.96). Six runners went under 4:21 in the mile with Adams State’s Ryan McNiff taking the title in 4:18.29.
Adams State women won their ninth straight title with 184.5 points. Nebraska Kearney was second with 134.5 points and New Mexico Highlands was third with 80 points. Adams State’s Indira Spence won both the 60 meters (7.32) and 200 meters (24.46) for automatic qualifying times. . Five women went under 5:13 in the mile with Mesa State’s Alexis Skarda taking the win in 5:04.84, all provisionally qualified. Adams State won the DMR with a time of 12:00.47 to automatically qualify.