Belated NCAA Division II Regions Report

Sincere apologies to all the NCAA Division II teams.  Their Region Championships were totally off my radar for last weekend.  Shouldn't have been, just were.  Below is the report we should have done earlier in the week.

Winona State(108 points) women's team continued their record setting year by placing second in the NCAA Regional Championships in Joplin, MO last Saturday to earn a spot in the NCAA Division II finals also in Joplin. University of Mary(149) finished third advancing to the Nationals as the top five women's teams in the Region were selected. The Mankato State men also qualified for Nationals with a third place finish as the top four men's teams from the Region advanced.

Full women's results are HERE.  Full men's results are HERE. Winona Daily News story on the women's team is HERE.

Minnesota State Mankato(193) finished seventh in the Regional meet, followed by the University of Minnesota-Duluth(222) in eighth, Minnesota State University-Moorhead(446) was 18th, Southwest Minnesota State(814) was 26th.  The top team in the Region, defending national champion Augustana packed their top five in the top 11 finishers to score 29 points.

As they have all year, U-Mary seniors Melissa Agnew(20:48.9, second) and Dakota Wolf(21:00.3, fourth) led the way with senior Alicia Nehl(21:52.9, 15th) not far behind in the 6K race(KUMV-TV report on team is HERE).  Winona State packed their top five runners in the top 41 with the top four  in the top 30. Sophomore Jessica Young(21:24.8, WDN story HERE) led the way for Winona in eighth, followed by sophomore Jordan Skelly (21:52.2) in 14th, senior Kayla Gudmundson(21:59.5) in 20th, senior Megan Snyder(22:17.4) in 29th. Sophomore Chelsea Schrubbe(22:34) finished 44th,  freshman Jordan Paschke(22:34) was 45th, and freshman Kim Truedson was 85th..

The Mankato State men return to the National meet for the first time since 2008 when they finished eighth.  Their team was also led by underclassmen as sophomore Josiah Swanson(30:30.9) finished sixth in the 10K Region race.  He was followed by senior Garrett Eklof(30:47.9) in 15th, junior Josh Mellman(30:59.7) in 23rd, junior Jacob Ball(31:28) in 42nd, senior Jacob Bastyr(31:57.9), and sophomore Matthew Stocker(31:59.8) in 64th.  A summary of the team's results this season is HERE.

Augustana swept the team titles as their men's team scored 31 points, followed by Missouri Southern(98), and MS Mankato(108).  The University of Minnesota Duluth men(315) finished 12th,  MSU-Moorhead(322) was 13th, Winona State(444) 16th and Concordia-St Paul(662) 22nd.


It has been a year of firsts for the Winona State Warrior women.  They have a new coach, Adam Boothe(WDN story HERE), After the Region Meet they were ranked tenth in the USTFCCCA poll, the first top ten national ranking in the school's history.  Young set a new school record in the Region meet while the team had the fastest team time in the school's history at that meet.

Of the 20 members on the team 15 are either freshman or sophomores with just two seniors on the squad.  The Warrior women have run 13 of the school's best 25 times during the 2012 season. Kayla Gudmunson became the first Winona State woman to run in the National meet last year.  This year, she's bringing along the rest of the team.