Pick Ten: NCAA D2 and D3 Championships

This weekend is the culmination of a long track and field season for NCAA Division II and Division III athletes.  Both outdoor National Meets will kick off on Thursday morning with multi-events and continue through Saturday night.  The Division II Championship is hosted by Colorado State University at Pueblo and the Division III Meet is at Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

There are many local athletes competing for All-American slots at these meets.  We will pick ten of them to focus on and let you predict the finishes.

Pick Ten has a simple concept: predict the finish place for each of 10 Minnesota athletes at this weekends competitions. 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 track and field events.

For example: If you pick Mike Hutton to place first in the 800 meter race, and he places first, you get 10 points. If you pick Hutton to place first and he finishes second, you get zero points. If you pick Hutton 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 6:00 P.M. CST on Friday, May 25th 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 ... Division II and III Outdoor Track and Field National Meets:

Jerrell Hancock - Minnesota State, Mankato - 200 Meters:
Christopher Reed - Minnesota State, Mankato -  Shot Put:
Lexi Williams - UMD - 800 Meters:
Alissa Rausch - Winona State - Shot Put:
Shanai Guider - Winona State - Discus Throw:
Ashley Magelssen - Bethel - 100 Meters:
Mike Hutton - St. Thomas - 800 Meters:
Devin Monson - Hamline - 5000 Meters:
Eyo Ekpo - St. Thomas - High Jump:
Josh Owens - Gustavus - Pole Vault:

Here is some information to help you with your picks:

Information including entries and heat sheets can be found at the following sites:
Division II
Division III

Here are the rankings of the Pick Ten athletes in their event based on the entries/heat sheets:

Hancock - fourth, Reed - fourth, Williams - seventh, Rausch - seventh, Guider - fourth, Magelssen - seventh, Hutton - second, Monson - fifth, Ekpo - third, Owens - fifth.

Some of these athletes are competing in multiple events:  Rausch is also competing in the Discus.  Magelssen is in the 200 and 4x400.  Monson will run the 10,000 meters prior to the 5000 meters.

Good luck!

Last week's question was Will Garrett Heath and/or Will Leer run an Olympic "A" standard of 3:35.50 at the Oxy High Performance Meet on Friday night?  The correct answer was no.  Heath came close - 3:36.24 while Leer ran 3:39.31.  Twenty two players answered correctly this week and Jim Glazer and Ryan Aylesworth are tied for first with eleven points.  A pack of five are one point behind with ten points.

Bill Atkins continues to lead Pick Ten with 110 points.  But the race is tight as there are eight other contestants within ten points.

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