Pick Ten: NCAA Indoor Championships

It is NCAA Indoor week for collegiate athletes. The Division I meet is being hosted by Boise State, Division II is right here in Mankato, and Division III is down the road in Grinnell, Iowa. All three meets kick off on Friday and conclude on Saturday. With all the Minnesotans traveling to these locations to compete, we decided that just one question would not be enough this week. This leads us to this week's Pick Ten Contest.

Pick Ten has a simple concept: predict the finish place for each of 10 Minnesota athletes at NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships. You will score points for each athlete who 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 David Pachuta to place first in the 800 meter race, and he places first, you get 10 points. If you pick Pachuta to place first and he finishes second, you get zero points. If you pick Pachuta to finish third in the race and he places first, second or third, you get 6 points by the scoring system above, since he placed at least as high as you predicted.

To play Pick Ten, 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 11:00 A.M. CST on Friday, March 9th to DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Make sure your full name is in the e-mail. 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.

We'll announce the winner of this week's contest and compile results of all of the year's Pick Ten contests to name a grand champion for 2012.

Pick 10 ... NCAA Indoor National Meets:

David Pachuta - University of Minnesota - 800 Meters:
Hassan Mead - University of Minnesota - 5000 Meters:
Micah Hegerle - University of Minnesota - Weight Throw
Dani Stack - Iowa State - 5000 Meters
Jerrell Hancock - Minnesota State, Mankato - 200 Meters
Anna Van Wechel - Minnesota State, Moorhead - Mile Run
Jenny Schuler - Winona State - Weight Throw
Mike Sandle - Wisconsin, River Falls - Triple Jump
Dani Larson - St. Olaf - Pentathlon
Brenna Coyle - Hamline - Weight Throw

The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association website list all the entries/heat sheets/schedules etc. HERE.

Here are the pre-meet rankings of each of the ten athletes in his or her specified event:

Division I: Pachuta - 2nd in the 800m. Mead - 5th in the 5000m. Hegerle - 5th in the Weight Throw. Stack - 10th in the 5000m.

Division II: Hancock - 2nd in the 200m. Schuler - 4th in the Weight Throw. Van Wechel - 7th in the Mile.

Division III: Sandle - 2nd in the Triple Jump. Larson - 2nd in the Pentathlon. Coyle - 8th in the Weight Throw.

Good luck!

Last week's question was: Will the winner in the men's 4 x 400 break 3:20.00 AND the winner in the women's 4 x 400 break 4:00.00 at the MIAC meet on Saturday? The answer was no. St. Thomas women won in 3:57 and Bethel men placed first in 3:21. Twenty people answered correctly this week, but we are down to one lone contestant in first place. Jim Glazer is still perfect in 2012 and has seven points. There are six players with six points.

The current leaders in the Pick 10 contest are Craig Yotter and Jon Lambert, each with forty points.

For full standings of both contests, please visit DtB Fantasy Corner.