MANKATO, Minn. – Led by a title from Emma Hertz and career-best performances by Taylor Stoltz and Emily Olson, the University of Sioux Falls Track and Field Squad had a strong performance at the NSIC Indoor Championships on Saturday. USF finished 12^th in the NSIC team standings with 20 points.

The NSIC Women's Championship competition was held separate from the men's due to the CoVID-19 protocols. It also was held on one day only for the first time. At the meet, USF had two NCAA DII provisional marks, four top-10 all-time marks at USF and numerous personal-bests by individuals and relays. USF had two All-NSIC performances with Emma Hertz winning the shot put title and Taylor Stoltz placing third in the high jump with a career-best performance.

"I am very proud of what our team accomplished today," said USF Director of Track and Field Doug Petersen. "It was exciting to see the intensity and focus from the entire squad. We had two provisional marks, numerous personal bests and four marks that rank among the top-10 all-time indoors at USF. So, it was a solid effort by a focused team," he said.

Minnesota State won its fourth NSIC Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship as events wrapped up from Myers Field House on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato.  The Mavericks, which also won championships in 2009, 2016 & 2017, totaled 178 team points to finish 23 points ahead of second place Augustana. The Vikings had 155 points while the University of Mary was third with 105 points. 

Hertz, who has had a dominate indoor performance in the throws, won the shot put with an NCAA DII Provisional and All-NSIC mark of 14.98m – 49-01.75 feet. It was the 14^th career title for Hertz, who earlier set USF's indoor shot put school record in the shot put with an NCAA DII automatic qualifying mark of 52-2 (15.90m) at the MSU Triangular on Feb. 12. The throw was also the third best throw indoors in school history only behind the 52-2. She has all three of those top three marks in program history.

In the high jump, junior Taylor Stoltz recorded a career-best 5-05.75 which is an NCAA DII provisional mark to finish third in the high jump at the NSIC Championships. Stoltz's All-NSIC performance is the second best indoor high jump mark in USF history (Sarah Gilbert, 5-8.75, 2010).

Senior Emily Olson recorded a career-best of 3,187 points and finished sixth in the pentathlon at the indoor championships. She bettered her own mark of 3,157 points set in 2020 and still has the top three performance in school history.  She was third in the 60-meters hurdles with a 9.14 clocking for 881 points. Olson placed fourth in the long jump by going 5.21m – 17-01..25 for 617 points. was 11^th in the high jump at 1.52M – 5-0 feet which generated 644 points and 10^th in the shot put with a throw of 9.41m – 30-05 feet for 491 points. In the 800 meters she had a clocking of 2:41.80 which was worth 552 points.

USF also had points from its distance medley relay, which registered a 12:50.97 in placing eighth. The team included sophomores Tianna Wald, Emma Kenkel, Annika Aho and Lauren Wells.  In USF's other relay, the 4x400 meter relay squad was 10^th in 4:06.46 with a squad of senior Mercy Oyadare, sophomores Cassidy O'Meara and Tianna Wald and junior Zoe Cigard. It was a season best by the team.

Sophomore Natalie Meyers had a personal best and tied the eighth best mark in school indoor history by placing ninth with a long jump of 17-08. Junior KaNya Henderson placed 11^th in the 60-meters with a season-best clocking of 7.72 and the mark ranks second best indoors ever at USF.

Sophomore Jailah Brice-Moore finished ninth in 9.09 in the 60-meter hurdles. However, she was just one-hundredth of a second from eighth place.

Also for USF, junior Carolyn Bradley and freshman Emily Swanson tied for 11^th in the pole vault by going 10-5.5 – 3.19m. For Swanson, it was a career-best. In the weight throw, senior Kayla Andersen placed 10th with a toss of 53-03 - 16.23m, which was just off her season-best.

In the triple jump, sophomore Cassidy Noeldner was 14^th in 34-05 – 10.49m. Sophomore Lauren Wells was 15^th in the mile run as she ran a 5:23.54. Sophomore Emma Kenkel had a 1:00.90 clocking in the 400 meters to finish 16^th.

Junior Zoe Cigard took 13^th in the 600-meter run in 1:40.38, which was just six hundreds off her career-best.

 In the 800 meters, sophomore Annika Aho was 14^th with a clocking of 2:20.51, which was her career-best. In the 1000 meters, USF's Tianna Wald placed 11^th with a personal-best clocking of 3:05.94 while freshman Khot Juac was 13^th in 3:09.67. In the 3,000 meters, freshman Grace Beck finished 13^th in 10:53.69.