NCAA Indoor Championship Fields Set

With the announcement last night of entrants in the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, the fields for all three NCAA Championships are now complete.

Each of this weekend's meets is peppered with Minnesota individuals and teams poised to place well and perhaps bring a few national titles home to the North Star State.

Here's a quick run-down ...

Division I ... The #17-ranked University of Minnesota men will send four individuals to the D1 meet in College Station, Texas -- Matt Fisher (high jump), Hassan Mead (3000m), Chris Rombough (3000m), and Aaron Studt (shot put.) Fisher is the highest seed of the group at #4.

The #21-ranked Gopher women will send two individuals -- Heather Dorniden (800m) and Alicia Rue (pole vault) as well as their distance medley relay team of Dorniden, Julie Schwengler, Jamie Cheever, and Gabriele Anderson.

Rue is the #1 seed in the women's pole vault.

You can read the Gopher media release about NCAAs HERE (men) and HERE (women).

Other notable Minnesotans in the D1 meet include: Burnsville High School alum Laura Hermanson of NDSU who is the #5-seed in the 800m -- Dorniden, by the way, is #4; Winona native Elliott Heath of Stanford, the #5-seed in the 3000m; and former Monds View star Quinn Evans who is a member of Wisconsin's #9-seeded DMR.

Complete men's seeds can be found HERE ... women's HERE.

Division II ... Minnesota State - Mankato women, the #1-ranked team in NCAA Division II, will send seven individuals to the D2 meet in Houston, Texas. The lions share of the Mavericks' title hopes rest on Katelin Rains, the two-time defending D2 indoor pole vault champ, who will also compete individually in the long and triple jump and run a relay leg.

Rains is the #1-seed in the vault -- she's flown higher than any vaulter in any division this season -- and the #5-seed in both horizontal jumps.

Also competing for the Mavs: Lauren Stelten, the D2 indoor runner-up last year, in the pole vault; Brittany Henderson in the 60m and 200m, Linnelle Clark in the 60m, Kelsey Leonard in the 400m, and Kaycie Merrihew in the pentathlon.

Andrea Sellars will join Henderson, Leonard, and Rains on the Mavs 4 x 400m.

Maverick coach Jen Blue told DtB her team faces a strong field at nationals.

"The national meet is very competitive," Blue said. "We were 8th last year, and only three points out of 4th with four girls, so with seven girls competing we have a good chance to place in the top four. Abilene Christian, St. Augustine’s, Lincoln University and Adams State have been perennial powerhouses at the national meets, so I expect them to be very competitive this year as well."

Other top Minnesota individuals in the meet include: reigning D2 outdoor women's pole vault champ Jennifer Hensel of Minnesota State - Moorhead, the #3-seed; Concordia College (St. Paul) sprinter Kawaskii Bacon, the #2 seed in the men's 60m; Mankato's Denise Mokaya, the #1-seeded athlete in the men's 800m, and Derik Brugger of Moorhead, the #2-seed in the pole vault.

Complete D2 women's seeds can be found HERE ... men's HERE.

Division III ... Top Minnesota prospects at the D3 meet in Terre Haute, Indiana include: defending women's mile champ Marie Borner of Bethel, the #2-seed in the event this year, Gustavus Adolphus pentathlete Kaelene Lundstrum, the #2-seed, the St. Thomas men's DMR, the #1-seed, Tommie Brian Sames the #3 seed in the men's 800m, and Hamline's Derall King, the #4-seed in shot put.

Complete D3 entrant lists can be found HERE (women) and HERE (men).