Minnesota Claims Four D2, D3 Champions

Four Minnesota women won national titles at the NCAA Division II and Division III Championships held over the weekend.

In the D2 meet, held in Turlock, California, Minnesota State, Mankato senior Lauren Stelten won an outdoor pole vault crown to match the one she earned indoors in March, clearing 13-0 1/4. Winona State sophomore Mary Theisen won a dramatic discus competition in 163-9.

At the D3 Championships in Delaware, Ohio, Gustavus Adolphus College senior Janey Helland won the heptathlon with 5061 points. Carleton College senior Kelly Lovett won the javelin throw with a mark of 155-4.

Complete results of the D2 meet can be found HERE; complete D3 results are HERE.

Stelten won her pole vault title on only her fourth jump of the competition. The Chaska High School alumnus passed until 12-4 1 /2. She cleared that height and the next without a missing. Stelten missed on her first attempt at 13-0-1/4, but her clearance on the second try sealed the win, as the two other jumpers alive missed three times.

Stelten jumped at 13-7, but missed on all three attempts.

Theisen won the D2 discus in dramatic fashion, launching the winning throw on her final attempt of the competition. In fourth place when she stepped into the ring for her last attempt, her 163-9 mark moved her ahead of Larissa Richards of Pittsburg State who had led at 159-10.

In the D3 heptathlon, Helland used a big second day to take command of the competition. Third going into the final day, the Mapleton native won the long jump with 18-5 1/4, took second in the javelin with 123-2, and was runner-up again in the 800-meters with 2:19.47 to clinch the win.

Lovett led the D3 javelin from her first throw of 151-3, a personal best that would have been enough to win the competition in itself. The Portland, Oregon native marked another PR at 154-3 on her second throw to extend her margin. Lovett, with the competition won, then launched her last throw of 155-4 to end her collegiate career with a final flourish.