Minnesotans Dominate NSIC Awards

Athletes from Minnesota schools dominated the post-season awards conferred by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference yesterday. Following upon last weekend's NSIC Indoor Championships where Minnesota State - Mankato swept the team titles, the conference honored the following individuals:

Mankato senior Katelin Rains was named the Field Athlete of the Year. Rains won both the pole vault and long jump events at the championships with marks of 14-1 ¼ and 19-4 ¾, respectively. Both marks set NSIC records. Rains also finished second in the triple jump with a jump of 39-0 ¼.

MSU Moorhead’s Derik Brugger was recognized as the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year. Brugger won the pole vault championship with a 17-0 clearance.

Mankato junior Brittany Henderson was named the Women's Track Athlete of the Year. Henderson won both the 55 meter and 200 meter dashes at the championships with NSIC record times of 6.99 and 24.70, respectively.

Concordia-St. Paul’s Kawaskii Bacon earned the Men's Track Athlete of the Year for winning the 200 meter dash in 21.96 seconds and finishing second in the 55m dash in 6.40.

Minnesota Duluth’s freshman Morgan Place was named the Women's Newcomer of the Year. Place outdistanced the field in the 3000 meter run, clocking a conference record 9:55.28.

St. Cloud State junior Heather Miller was named the women's High Point Performer of the the Championships. She won her second individual title with a first place finish in the 55 meter hurdles in a time of 8.25. Miller also placed third in the 400 meter dash in 58.12. A week earlier, Miller won the women’s pentathlon title. In all, Miller tallied 44 points for the Huskies.

Minnesota State’s Kelvin Rodgers earned the Men's High Point Performance award, along with Concordia University’s Tye Sayles, with 20 points. At the NSIC Championships.

Rodgers earned eight points with a second-place finish in the long jump with a jump of 22’-11 ¾ and 12 points with a pair of third-place finishes in the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash with times of 6.50 and 22.30, respectively.

Sayles started the weekend with a third place finish in the long jump (22-9 3/4) before taking another third place finish in the high jump (6-5 1/2). He then finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 46-7 1/4.

Mankato's Jen Blue was named the NSIC Women's Coach of the Year. Blue led the Mavericks to their first indoor conference title in the program's history. This is Blue’s second Coach of the Year award -- the first coming in 2003 when MSU was a member of the North Central Conference.

Mankato's Mark Schuck was named the NSIC Men's Coach of the Year after leading his team to its 12th indoor conference championship in the program's history, and third in the last four seasons. This is Schuck’s fourth indoor coach of the year award with the first three coming in 2004, 2006, and 2008 as a member of the NCC.