Mankato, Minn. --- The #14 Minnesota State men's indoor track & field team made history with its triumph at the 2023 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships, winning the title for the 12th consecutive year with a program record 232 points. That now stands as the longest such winning streak in NSIC men's indoor track & field history as MSU entered the championships tied with MSU Moorhead (1982-1992) with 11 consecutive team titles. In addition, the Mavericks are now tied for the second-longest championship streak in NSIC history in any sport, trailing only Minnesota State's remarkable run of 19-consecutive titles in men's outdoor track & field (1948-1966), and equaling Minnesota Duluth's dozen straight titles in women's cross country (1992-2003).
The 232 points compiled by the Mavericks not only far out-distanced runner-up Augustana's total of 96, but was the third-highest point total in NSIC Championships history. Only UMD's totals of 247 (1997) and 235.5 (1995) stand higher than Minnesota State's performance this weekend. This also represented the 14
th NSIC title in program history for the Mavericks.
MSU swept the top three spots in the finals of the 400-meter dash, led by freshman
Qai Hussey's winning time of 48.87. Senior
Rashion Walker (49.32) and sophomore
Junior Pontes Da Veiga (49.36), were right behind in second and third. Sophomore
Marvin Dure also earned podium honors with his seventh-place result (51.01).
Senior
Ben Schmied successfully defended his title in the 600-meter dash with a career-best time of 1:20.97 that also is the ninth-best time in school history. Freshman teammate
Maquanet Collins earned runner-up honors with his time of 1:22.06.
The Maverick sprinters absolutely dominated the 60-meter dash finals by taking the top two spots, and five of the top six, led by sophomore
Ezekiel Clark's winning time of 6.79. Sophomore
Steven Marks earned runner-up honors with his time of 6.84. Taking fourth through sixth, respectively, were junior
Armando Colome (6.89), redshirt freshman
Trey Vaval (6.90), and junior
Nicholas Sharma (6.98).
Senior
Kenry Atubel's time of 21.93 was not only the 12
th-fastest in school history, but was good enough to best the field in the 200-meter dash to claim the individual title. Marks (22.18), Hussey (22.42), and Colome (22.42) finished in fourth through sixth, respectively.
The final event of the day saw Minnesota State's 4x400 relay team set a conference record by clocking in at 3:17.49 to win the race. Members of the relay team included Pontes Da Veiga, Walker, Dure, and Hussey, and their time was the 10
th best in school history.
In earlier action, junior
Tanner Maier took second in a fast mile race with his time of 4:11.62. Maier also recorded a runner-up finish in the 800-meter run later in the day with his time of 1:53.56 falling just 0.16 short of claiming first place.
In the triple jump, sophomore
Lorenzo Jones picked a good time for a career-best effort as his mark of 14.83 m (48' 8") was good for second, and is also the 11
th-best mark in school history. Fellow sophomore
Onyekachi Ukaobasi took third with his mark of 14.39 m (47' 2.5").
The Mavericks had three of the top five finishers in the 60-meter hurdles, led by junior
Abel Christiansen taking third in a time of 8.05. Immediately behind Christiansen was junior
Renald Pierre (8.08) in fourth and senior
Justus Adams (8.17) in fifth.
Junior
Tommy Kucera ended up fifth in the shot put with a throw of 15.63 m (51' 3.5"). Freshman
Braxton Stewart ended up sixth in the heptathlon with his season-high total of 4,503. That score is the 13
th-best heptathlon in MSU history.
Minnesota State will now await to see which members of the team will be selected for the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championships in Virginia Beach, Va., on Friday and Saturday, March 10th and 11th, 2023. Selections will be announced at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 28th.
| Place |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
#14 MINNESOTA STATE |
232 |
| 2 |
Augustana |
96 |
| 3 |
MSU Moorhead |
86 |
| 4 |
Wayne State |
57 |
| 5 |
Mary |
49 |
| 6 |
Minnesota Duluth |
48 |
| 7 |
Concordia-St. Paul |
47 |
| 8 |
Northern State |
45 |
| 9 |
Sioux Falls |
42 |
| 10 |
Minot State |
29 |
| 11 |
Southwest Minnesota State |
5 |
| 12 |
Upper Iowa |
4 |
