Virginia Beach, Va. --- The Minnesota State men's indoor track & field program produced two more All-American performances in the second and final day of competition at the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championship, and vaulted itself up to a 16^th place finish in the process with 16 points. 
 
Thanks to scoring teams points again in 2023, Minnesota State has extended its streak of doing to 11 consecutive years of doing so, which is now tied for the ninth-longest streak in the nation. 

Junior Carson Dittel had the meet of his life in the finals of the pole vault, eventually taking second place in the event and earning First Team All-American honors.  Dittel cleared the first two heights on his first try, and then on each of his next four heights, had a miss on the first attempt followed by a clearing height.  On his seventh height, Dittel cleared 5.35 m (17' 6.5") to thoroughly smash his previous career record by approximately a half a foot.  However, the next height at 5.40 m (17' 8.5") proved to be too much of a barrier as he exited the competition at that point to finish as the National Runner Up to Vlad Malykhin of Harding.  Dittel becomes the eighth individual in MSU history to earn All-American honors in the pole vault, and the first since Mitch Valli in 2017.
 

Maverick Pole Vault All-Americans	Year
John Hietala	1985, 1987
Robert Kern	1989
Charles Zheng	1992, 1993, 1994
Andrew Petersen	2002, 2003
Jason Petricka	2004
Dan Novak	2009, 2012
Mitch Valli	2017
Carson Dittel	2023

 
In the final event of the meet, the Maverick 4x400 relay team of freshman Qai Hussey, sophomore Junior Pontes Da Veiga, senior Kenry Atubel, and senior Rashion Walker entered the competition ranked 15^th in the nation, but in the opening heat unleashed a 3:11.57 that is the second-fastest time in MSU history to win the heat.  Though eight teams still had the opportunity to post times in two heats following Minnesota State's effort, the Mavericks held onto sixth and earned First Team All-American honors in the process.
 

Maverick 4x400 Relay All-Americans	Year
Zach Gearman, Jererell Hancock, Nathan Hancock, Carmono Lane	2014
Morris Dennis, Tanner Ogren, Isaiah Pitchford, John Schuster	2017
Morris Dennis, Reid Diamond, Tanner Ogren, John Schuster	2018
Reid Diamond, Josh Phelps, John Schuster, Jaquez Wilson	2019
Qai Hussey, Junior Pontes Da Veiga, Kenry Atubel, Rashion Walker	2023

 
Earlier in the day, sophomore Onyekachi Ukaobasi appeared in the opening flight of the men's triple jump finals, and his best mark of 14.26 m (46' 9.5") was not enough to allow him to advance to the championship flight, placing him in 14^th overall.
 

Place	Team	Points
1	Pittsburg State	86
2	Adams State	42
3	Grand Valley State	29
T-4	Academy of Art	26
T-4	Missouri Southern State	26
T-4	West Texas A&M	26
T-7	Lenoir-Rhyne	23
T-7	Northwest Missouri State	23
9	Angelo State	22
T-10	Colorado State-Pueblo	20
T-10	Harding	20
T-10	Mississippi College	20
T-10	Wingate	20
14	Colorado School of Mines	19.5
15	Central Missouri	17
16	Minnesota State	16
17	Nebraska-Kearney	15
18	Walsh	13
T-19	Carson-Newman	12
T-19	Texas A&M-Kingsville	12
21	Findlay	10.5
T-22	Concordia-St. Paul	10
T-22	Limestone	10
24	Fort Hays State	9
25	Azusa Pacific	8.5
T-26	Colorado-Colorado Springs	8
T-26	Lincoln (Pa.)	8
T-26	Lubbock Christian	8
T-26	Missouri S&T	8
T-26	West Chester	8
T-26	Western Colorado	8
T-32	Alabama-Huntsville	7
T-32	Northwood	7
T-34	Benedict	6
T-34	Hillsdale	6
T-34	Northwest Nazarene	6
T-37	Colorado Christian	5
T-37	Lee	5
T-37	Tiffin	5
T-40	Chadron State	4
T-40	MSU Moorhead	4
T-40	Oklahoma Christian	4
T-40	Washburn	4
44	Colorado Mesa	3
T-45	Emporia State	2
T-45	Indiana (Pa.)	2
T-45	Lincoln (Mo.)	2
T-45	Oklahoma Baptist	2
T-45	Western Washington	2
T-50	Davenport	1
T-50	St. Augustine's	1
T-50	Truman State	1
53	Holy Family	0.5

 

2023 Minnesota State All-Americans	Event
Carson Dittel	Pole Vault (First Team)
James Gilbert	Long Jump (First Team)
Qai Hussey, Junior Pontes Da Veiga, Kenry Atubel, Rashion Walker	2023