Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's track and field team kicked off the NSIC Conference Championships Thursday afternoon following solid performances all around.
Sophomore Brieanna Puckett (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) started the day off on a high note capturing the conference title in the long jump with a lunge of 19'2.75". Shortly after that, the pole vault wrapped up with a trio of Mavericks placing. Bryanna Sudman (Eden Prairie, Minn) put in a career day vaulting 12'9.5". Her new personal-record placed her fourth and contributed five points for the team. Nicole Larson (Milwaukee, Wis.) and Faryn Wirkus (Edgar, Wis.) also placed coming in seventh and eighth, respectively. Three Mavericks would also score in the high jump. Brianna Ziolkowski (Hatley, Wis.) led the trio in fourth-place with a jump of 5'4.25". Amanda Stangler (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Kayla Lindell (Cold Spring, Minn.) tied for sixth at 5'4.25". For Lindell, that jump now marks as the best in her MSU career.
The distance medley relay team also garnered points as Halee Peterson (Cloquet, Minn.), Bonnie Pickford (Wever, Iowa), Maddi Sjelin (St. Michael, Minn.) and Erica Hauf (Sabin, Minn.) placed seventh with a final time of 12:37.05.
In addition to the final results, numerous individuals qualified for the final rounds of their respective events, which will be ran tomorrow afternoon.
Brooke Foreman (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Jenni Vanttinen (Helsinki, Finland) both qualified in the 60-meter hurdles behind Foreman's personal best 8.89. Taylor Naatz (Watertown, Wis.) followed suit in the 400-meters at 58.84. A pair of Mavericks met the times required in the 600-meters as both Taylor Glover (Spencer, Iowa) and Megan Allen (Grand Rapids, Minn.) finished in the top-eight with Glover guiding the way with a new personal-record of 1:35.58.
Puckett, Sid'Reshia Floyd (New Hope, Minn.) and Karlona Gregory (Minneapolis, Minn.) will all run in the 60-meter dash finals as well. For Floyd and Gregory, their times of 7.66 and 7.81 both set new personal-records for their respective careers. Puckett would also qualify in the 200-meters at 25.49. Sjelin (800-meters) and Peterson (1000-meters) will also have final rounds in their events.
Through day one, the Mavericks sit in fifth-place as a team with 30 points. Augustana leads the way in team performance with 47 total points.
Full results through day one can be viewed HERE.
The Conference Championships wrap up tomorrow afternoon in Myers Field House. Field events are set to kick off at 10 a.m. with running events following at 1 p.m.
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