DULUTH, MINN. -- With eight top-10 program marks, 10 season-best and eight scoring marks (top-eight), the University of Sioux Falls Track and Field Team closed a successful Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship on Saturday (May 15).

The Women's Team claimed sixth (49 points) in the team standings while the Men's Team was 12th (21 points). The USF Women's Team finished in the top-seven for the third time in the DII era and the second time since 2018.  USF had five All-NSIC performances including David Ecker (3K steeplechase), Emma Hertz (shot put, discus, and hammer) and Emily Olson (heptathlon). 

A year ago, the NSIC was unable to host the league meet due to the cancellation of the outdoor season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the 2021 championships provided a number of highlights. Friday, USF had school records from Emma Hertz in the hammer (184-09, DII prov.) and Mason Phillips in the 800 prelims (1:51.57, DII prov.) while recording four NCAA DII provisional marks and a series of personal bests and 12 program top-10 marks. With the eight program top-10 marks on Saturday, USF finished with 20 during the championships.

"I felt that we had a really competitive NSIC Championship meet," said USF Head Coach Doug Petersen. "We had a lot of personal bests, records and numerous top-20 marks. We continue to make progress. In a year of challenges, we really came through this spring. I am proud of this team," said Petersen. 

Here is a breakdown –

Women -
Junior Emma Hertz continued her standout outdoor season. Led by Hertz, USF placed three in the top six and scored 13 points in the discus throw. Hertz was third at 151-10-46.28m while Jaimie McNamee was fifth at 148-04 – 45.21m and Kayla Andersen, sixth, 141-05-43.10m. USF also had a ninth place finish from junior MacKenzie Bengtson at 137-04-41.86m while senior Bailey Rudebusch was 16^th in 123-11.75 – 37.79m and sophomore Cali Boden was 20^th at 118-03.75 – 36.06m. Hertz followed up a strong day two performance when she set a school record in the hammer throw by finishing second with a throw of 184-09 – 56.33m, which was an NCAA DII provisional mark and bettered her mark of 180-9.25 set at the Dordt Invite on April 1.  Hertz also had a DII provisional mark in the shot put as she placed third at 50-02 – 15.29m.   

The 4x100 meter relay of junior KaNya Henderson, sophomore Emma Kenkel, senior Mercy Oyadare and sophomore Natalie Meyers clocked a 47.94 for 4th place. It ranks 7th all-time at USF. Kenkel was also part of USF's 4x400-meter relay which finished 12^th but had a season-best clocking of 4:02.13 which ranks ninth in program history. Other members of the team included sophomore Annika Aho, sophomore Cassidy O'Meara and junior Tianna Wald.

With a personal-best and the program's second-best outdoor clocking of 4:35.21, sophomore Lauren Wells finished seventh in the 1,500 meter run. Freshman Khot Juac was 12^th with her personal-best of 4:40.62 in the 1,500 meter run and a top-five program all-time best.

In the javelin, USF had an 11^th place finish from Rudebusch at 109-05.75-33.37m; while Emily Olson was 17^th at 103-04-31.49m; Ally Welch, 23^rd, 89-00.25 and Miranda Phipps, 24^th, 88-00-26.82m.
In the triple jump, sophomore Cassidy Noeldner had a jump of 35-06 – 10.82m for 15^th place.  Clara Leverich was 25^th in 30-03.5 – 9.23m.

Juac ran the 5,000-meters for the first time at USF and placed 20^th in the 5,000 meter run at 18:02.46. Wells was 22^nd in 18:06.97, with a personal-best by nearly 20 seconds (18:26.17)
 
Men's Breakdown
In the Men's 1,500 meters, senior Mason Phillips claimed third with a clocking of 3:51.38 which is seventh all-time at USF outdoors and his fourth best clocking. Ben Morrison finished 18^th in 4:02.01. After clocking a program best 1:51.57, DII provisional mark, school record) in the prelims on Friday, he was sixth in the 800-meter run at 1:56.78. Phillips also placed ninth in the 5,000-meters with a clocking of 14:47.28, which was an outdoor PR for him and ranks sixth all-time at USF. Junior David Ecker placed 10^th in the 5K at 14:55.78, which was a PR by nearly 10 seconds and the eighth-best mark in program history. Also for USF Ben Morrison was 24^th in 16:16.67.

Freshman Ben Mandel finished sixth with a personal-best and the ninth best mark in program history of 15.29 (15.282) in the 110-meter hurdles. USF had a 12^th place finish and personal-best in the triple jump by Isiah Dancy who had a 43-06-13.26m.

Sophomore Carson Hausmann finished 15^th in the javelin throw by going 126-00-38.40m. Hausmann was also 16^th in the discus throw at 129-00 – 39.32m. Freshman Brett Deschler was 18^th in 126-08.5 while sophomore Jaymeson Wolkow captured 26^th at 112-05-34.26m.

In the pole vault, junior Jake Peterson placed ninth at 13-05 – 4.09m.

USF placed 11th in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:26.13, which was a season-best, and included senior Logan Hansen, Jayden Slaba, Zach Matzner and Phillips.