WAYNE – With NCAA Indoor Nationals scheduled for the second weekend in March, members with the Wayne State College track & field team competed in their own conference championships in late February.
From Myers Field House, Minnesota State-Mankato hosted the NSIC Indoor Championships Friday, February 28 – Saturday, February 29.
Mckenzie Scheil earned All-NSIC honors Saturday with a third-place finish in the shot put for the Wildcat women. As a team, Wayne State finished 10th place out of 15 teams with 22 points.
The University of Mary captured the women’s team title for a third straight season, scoring 163 points to out-distance second place Augustana at 143.66 points. Minnesota State was third at 123 points with Winona State (50) and Concordia-St. Paul (41) a distant fourth and fifth place.
Minnesota Duluth was sixth with 39 points while St. Cloud State (34.50), Sioux Falls (34), Northern State (31.83) and Wayne State (22) rounding out the top 10 teams.
Scheil, a sophomore from Fairmont (Fillmore Central HS), captured the NSIC weight throw title on Friday with an NCAA provisional mark of 62’ 12”.
Other Wildcats that scored points at the NSIC Indoor Championships were sophomore Mikayla Marvin placing fifth in the pole vault clearing 11’ 2 ¾” while sophomore Ali Dykman collected a seventh-place medal in the high jump clearing 5’ 3”.
For the Wildcat men, Nathan Pearson placed fifth in the 800-meter run and Noah Lilly earned an eighth-place finish in the men’s heptathlon Saturday. As a team, Wayne State finished ninth out of 12 teams with 22 points.
For the ninth straight year, Minnesota State-Mankato won the NSIC men’s indoor team title with 213.50 points with Augustana a distant second at 121.50 points. MSU Moorhead (80), University of Mary (68.50) and Northern State (63.50) closed out the top five teams.
Sioux Falls edged Minnesota Duluth 55-52 for sixth place with Concordia-St. Paul eighth at 45 points. Wayne State (22) was ninth with Southwest Minnesota State (12), Minot State (5) and Upper Iowa (2) rounding out the team scoring.
Pearson collected a fifth-place finish in the 800-meter run finals with a time of 1:58.07 while Noah Lilly came in eighth place in the men’s heptathlon scoring 4,619 points.
Ben Allen made Saturday’s finals of the shot put, but just missed placing with a ninth-place finish at 48’ ¾”.
Friday’s results saw junior Cade Kalkowski earn All-NSIC honors in the weight throw with a second-place mark of 67’ 3 1/4”, an NCAA provisional mark that moves him up to sixth place in NCAA Division II. Senior Dylan Kaup also placed in the event, just missing All-NSIC honors with a fourth-place finish at 62’ 8”.
Sophomore Mikhail Sands also scored points with a seventh-place finish in the long jump at 21’ 10 ¼”.
The Wildcat 4 x 400-meter relay team of Preston Davis, Bryce Holcomb, Michael Kueny and Pearson scored the final points of the event placing seventh with a time of 3:28.21.
The NCAA Indoor Nationals will be held in Birmingham, Alabama Friday, March 13 – Saturday, March 14. Later in the month of March, WSC will host the Wildcat Classic on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 kicking off their outdoor season.