Maverick Athletics News
St. Paul, Minn. – The Minnesota State men’s track team sprinted its way to the NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championship Saturday afternoon, winning its 11th straight league title. The Mavericks collected 207 points–111 of those points coming via the sprints crew.
The league title is the 13th in the last 14 years for Minnesota State. Since 1932, Minnesota State has won 41 NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Mavericks claimed titles in seven events over the course of the weekend.
Junior Carson Dittel set an NSIC record in the pole vault to start the scoring with a vault of 5.37m (17’7 ½”). The vault moved Dittel into third in the nation this spring and is also a new school record.
Dittel wasn’t the only one scoring points in the vault, however, as MSU tallied 23 total points in the event. Junior Alex Berg was third with a vault of 4.70m (15’5″) while sophomore Jed Hansen was fifth with a vault of 4.40m (14’5 ¼”) and redshirt freshman Austin Frank was sixth with a vault of vault of 4.40m (14’5’1/4″).
Junior Onyekachi Ukaobasi won the triple jump with a leap of 14.96m (49’11”) while freshman Camden Combs was seventh with a jump of 13.36m (43’10”). In the discus, junior Carter Aguilera was third with a toss of 49.65m (162’10”).
On the track, junior Tanner Maier finished second in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:46.02, the second fastest time in school history.
A trio of Mavericks recorded points in the 110m high hurdles paced by junior Renald Pierre’s time of 14.29. Senior Abel Christiansen was second with a 14.37 while senior Justus Adams was fifth with a 14.83.
In the 400 meters the Mavericks went 2-4-6-8 as freshman Qai Hussey turned in a 47.35 to finish second and pace the purple and gold. Sophomore Junior Pontes de Veiga was fourth with a 47.93 while sophomore Kyler Bade was sixth with a 48.44. Sophomore Marvin Dure was eighth with a 48.65.
The 100 meters saw Minnesota State score points from four sprinters as well, paced by sophomore Ezekiel Clark with a first-place time of 10.41. Junior Nicholas Sharma was third with a 10.59 while sophomore Steven Marks with fourth with a 10.57. Sophomore Armando Colome was eighth with an 11.19.
Maier and senior Ben Schmeid finished third and fourth in the 800 meters respectively turning in times of 1:51.83 and 1:53.29. In the 400m hurdles, the Mavericks collected points from four runners as freshman Owen Petersohn was third with a 54.87. Jeremiah Revere was fifth with a 55.27 and he was followed by freshman Chance Swenson who was sixth with a 56.18 while Christiansen was seventh with a 56.22.
In the 200-meter finals, junior Rashion Walker was second with a time of 21.17 followed by Marks who turned in a 21.24. Senior Kenry Atubel was fifth with a 21.29 while Sharma was seventh with a 21.48.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Pontes de Veiga, Walker, Atubel and Hussey finished first in 3:11.82 to close the meet, establishing a new meet record.
The Mavericks will find out who has qualified for this year’s NCAA Championships next week. The championships will be held May 25-27 in Pueblo, Colo.
