Augie Women Third, Men Sixth at NCC Track Championships

(Sioux Falls) The Augustana women’s track and field team flexed its muscles in the distance events to overtake Minnesota Duluth and finish third at the North Central Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Saturday at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Viking men also fared well in the distance races as they finished sixth in the team standings.

Augustana trailed UMD by 14.5 points entering Saturday’s final 3 events. But the Vikings quickly erased that deficit and finished with 143 points, scoring 52 points on Saturday while UMD failed to score. The finish is the Vikings’ best-ever performance at the NCC Outdoor Championships in terms of place and points scored.

South Dakota won the team title with 255 points, easily outdistancing Minnesota State, which was second with 164 points.

On the men’s side, Minnesota State claimed the team championship with 283.5 points, while South Dakota was second with 167 points.

But the day belonged to Augustana’s Rachel Stangler. The senior from Albany, Minn., ran all 3 races on Saturday – the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the 3,000 metes and the 5,000 meters – all in a 2-hour time frame. She was up to the task as she won the steeplechase and finished second in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

Stangler kicked things off with a record-setting performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She led the entire race and crossed the finish line in 10:34.85. That time shattered the NCC meet record of 10:54.50, which she set last year, and it bettered her own school record time by nearly 6 seconds. She ran a 10:40.17 at the Drake Relays. Stangler’s time on Saturday is the second-fastest time in Division II this season, trailing only Abilene Christian’s Winrose Karunde’s time of 10:29.81. In addition, Stangler narrowly missed setting a state of South Dakota collegiate record, which is 10:33.38, set by Angi Axman of Black Hills State in 2005.

Less than 90 minutes later, Stangler finished second in the 3,000 meters in a time of 10:17.20. Following a 15-minute break, she lined up for the 5,000 meters and earned another runner-up finish, crossing the finish line in 18:04.74.

But Stangler had plenty of help. In the steeplechase, Mairead Kelly was fourth in a time of 11:40.43, while Laura Johnson was eighth in 12:01.84.

In the 3,000 meters, Molly Clark was right behind Stangler, placing third in a time of 10:20.07, while Jessica Pape, the 2007 NCC champion, was fifth in a time of 10:38.67.

In the 5,000 meters, 2 other Vikings placed. Alyssa Anderson finished third with a time of 18:07.93 and Miranda Wagner, who was second in the 10,000 meters on Friday, was fifth in 18:40.37.

On the men’s side, 2 Vikings scored points in the steeplechase as Dan Black and Nathaniel Petrich finished fourth and fifth. Black crossed the finish line in 9:54.08, while Petrich’s time was 9:59.45.

In the 5,000 meters, Austin Vande Berg, who was third in the 1,500 meters on Friday, added a sixth-place finish by recording a time of 15:40.02. Two other Vikings just missed placing. Matt Heesch was ninth in 15:54.14, while Matt Braithwaite was 10th in 15:55.03.
*Courtesy: Augustana Sports Information