Pick Ten: NCAA Indoor Nationals

NCAA National indoor meets are being held in three locations this weekend. Division I will be held in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Division II athletes are traveling to Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Division III meet is in Greencastle, Indiana. Each meet will be held on Friday and Saturday.

There are a good number of Minnesotans competing at each meet. To keep tabs on all three we will use the Pick Ten contest again.

Pick Ten has a simple concept: predict the finish for each of 10 Minnesota athletes at NCAA National indoor meets. You will score points for each athletes that scores at or above the finish place you predict for them, following the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system.

For example: If you pick Aaron Studt to place first in the shot put at NCAA's, and he places first, you get 10 points. If you pick Studt to place first and he finishes second, you get zero points. If you pick Studt to finish third in the SP and he places first, second or third, you get 6 points, since you that's the place you picked him for.

To play Pick 10, cut and paste the list of names/events below into an e-mail and add your place predictions -- 1st or 2nd or 3rd...8th. Send your predictions by 9:00 A.M. CST on Friday, March 12th to DtBFantasy@gmail.com. Make sure your full name is in the e-mail. We'll announce the winner of this Pick Ten contest next week and keep a running tally of Pick Ten scores from throughout the year to crown a grand champion. As with our Yes/No contests, we don't offer any prizes, so no one needs to fear running afoul of NCAA or other anti-gambling regulations.

Pick 10 ... NCAA National Indoor Meets:

Ben Blankenship (U of M) in the Mile:
Elliott Heath (Stanford) in the 5000:
Aaron Studt (U of M) in the Shot Put:
R.J. McGinnis (U of M) in the Heptathlon:
Alicia Rue (U of M) in the Pole Vault:
Kristi Buerkle (Bemidji State) in the 400:
Heather Miller (St. Clouad State) in the Triple Jump:
Rebecca Stier (Winona State) in the Shot Put:
Jay Quick (Bethel) in the High Jump:
Kaelene Lundstrum (Gustavus) in the Pentathlon:

To Help You Make Your Picks ...

Ben Blankenship is ranked #3 going into the National Meet. The Gopher sophomore won the Big Ten Indoor Mile and then broke the school record last weekend running 3:57.87. Elliot Heath is a sophomore at Stanford and is ranked #5 in the 5000m. Heath was an All-American indoors and outdoors in 2009. Aaron Studt was a two-time All-American in the shot put in 2009 including a runner-up finish indoors. The Gopher senior is ranked #3 this year. R.J. McGinnis has won three consecutive Big Ten titles in the multis and is currently ranked #4 for the National Meet. Alicia Rue is a three-time All-American in the pole vault, finishing as high as second (2009 indoors). The Gopher senior is currently ranked #3 entering the National Meet.

Kristi Buerkle is ranked #1 in the 400 going into Division II Nationals. The junior All-American from Bemidji State has a seed time that is .5 seconds faster than the next competitior. Heather Miller is a senior at St. Cloud State and is ranked #2 in the triple jump as well as #1 in the pentathlon. Miller was a four-time All-American in 2009. Rebecca Stier is the second-ranked shot putter at the National Meet. The Winona State junior was an All-American in the weight throw in 2009.

Jay Quick is a Bethel University junior. Quick was a National Qualifier indoor and outdoor in 2009 in the high jump and is currently ranked tied for first. Kaelene Lundstrum was an All-American indoor and outdoor in 2009 in the multis. The senior from Gustavus is currently ranked #2 in the nation.

Good luck!

Last week's Y/N question was: Will more than four teams (men and women) run provisional qualifying times for Nationals in the 4x400 at the MIAC meet on Saturday? The answer was no. Exactly 4 teams (3 men - St. Thomas, Hamline and Bethel plus the St. Thomas women) ran times that provisionally qualified them for DIII Nationals.

After seven weeks of Yes/No, there are four contestants tied for first place with six points: Gloria Jansen, Jessie Schoen, Toby Hatlevig and Chad Bjugan. Two contestants are in the midst of a hot streak - Toby Hatlevig and Mike Mason have answered correctly in each of the last five weeks.

The Pick Ten standings show Jake Marotz in the lead with 45 points. For all the results, please visit DtB Fantasy Corner.