Minnesota State Mankato Wins Second Straight NSIC Team Title

The Minnesota State Mankato men’s track and field team won their second straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship Saturday, the eighth time that they have won the team title. MSU (207.5) nearly doubled the points total for runner up MSU-Moorhead (111),   Augustana College (102.5)was third followed by  University of Sioux Falls (89), St. Cloud State (58.50), Minnesota-Duluth (51), University of Mary (39), Wayne State (28), Northern State (22), Concordia University (17.50), and Minot State (13).

MSU had four of the top eight point scorers at the meet with Nathan Hancock in second-place (36.5),Jerrell Hancock third-place (20), Chris Reed third-place (20), and Devin Allbaugh sixth-place (18).  Junior Jerrell Hancock established a NSIC indoor record in the 400 with a time of 48.48 in besting the old record of 48.96 set by Minnesota-Duluth’s Erik Hanson in 1998. Sophomore Nathan Hancock met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard finishing fifth-place with a time of 50.01.

Senior Robert Gunderson ran the 60-meter hurdles in 8.42 seconds to finish fourth.. MSU took third and fourth place in the 60-meter dash with  Junior Carmono Lane(6.92) in third and senior Nicholas Nelson(6.96) in fourth.  Senior Joshua Mellman won the 1000 in 2:31.20. Sophomore Alexander Schoneberger ran 2:35.90 to finish eighth. Sophomore Jacob Ball was third in the 5K in 14:58.65.

In the mile, MSU had second and fourth-place performances by juniors Devin Allbaugh(4:13.65) and Ryan Ness(4:17.06).  Junior Dan Guelle placed seventh in the 600 in 1:23.32. Senior Edward Van Pelt ran 1:58.67 placing eighth in the 800.

Junior Chris Reed’s record-breaking toss of 59' 7.5" in the shot put won his second consecutive NSIC indoor track & field championship. Reed's throw broke MSU’s record held by Mike Yonkey of 59' 6.24" that was set in 1989. He also tied the NSIC record held by Joe Remitz of Bemidji State set in 2008. Senior Grant Luer finished second with an NCAA provisional qualifying throw of 53' 2.25".

Jerrell Hancock won his second straight NSIC championship in the 200 with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 21.46.  Lane and Anthony Gustafson finished fifth and sixth-place with times of 22.27 and 22.39, respectively. 
Junior David Pearcill captured triple jump with a leap of 47' 1.50".  freshman Khalil Jor’dan was fourth with a jump of 46' .75". In the pole vault seniors Tandy Juell and Matt Masloski finished sixth and seventh-place with vaults of 15' 2.75" and 14'08.75, respectively.

The Minnesota State 4x400 team composed of Nathan Hancock, Carmono Lane, Dan Guelle, and Jerrell Hancock won in  3:16.61. That time broke the previous record time of 3:18.91 held by MSU-Moorhead’s 4x400 team. Complete results HERE.  Minnesota State will compete at the NCAA Division II Indoor national championships March 7-9 in Birmingham, AL.