First-year athletes compete in MIAA/NSIC showdown

Over the weekend the Minnesota State University, Mankato men’s track and field team headed to Maryville, Missouri to compete in the MIAA vs. NSIC Showdown. It was a freshman affair as four first-year athletes traveled to compete.

Among those students was Jack Curtis who participated in his very first decathlon.
“Jack Curtis competed in his first decathlon ever as he is in the middle of spring football and scored a stellar 5,812 points,” Coach Jim Dilling said.

That performance was good enough to give him a fourth place finish in the event. In addition to that performance Curtis was able to secure the best time in the 100-meter dash by placing a time of 10.73, as well as recording a long jump of 20’3.75” and a high jump of 6’04.24”.

Joe Williams had a good outing for the day and placed seventh for the Mavs when he finished with a score of 5,620. Williams placed second in three events including in the long jump by recording a jump of 21’02.75”, placing a time of 51.81 in the 400-meter dash, and finishing with a time of 4:54:47 in the mile run.

“Joe Williams continues to show solid improvements as he improved on his old PR score by 300 points,” explained Coach Dilling.

Anya Nutter finished the day by placing ninth for the Mavs with 5,220 points at the end of the day. Among his stand out performances, included a second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles where he finished with a time of 15.36. Nutter also finished in third place in the 100-meter dash and high jump events.

“He will be a solid contender for a top 3 finish in 3 weeks at the NSIC Conference multi-event Championships,” Coach Dilling said about Nutter.

“Couldn’t be prouder of this young group and their coaching staff of Ted Elsenbaumer and Lyndon McDowell. This group dominated indoor and looks to repeat once again this outdoor,” said Coach Dilling about the weekend overall.

Only one female Maverick ended up competing over the weekend. Jessika Dieringer ended the weekend by placing seventh overall, with a total score of 4,172. The highlight of her weekend was placing first in the 800-meter run when she finished with a time of 2:29:04.

On Sunday, the Maverick throwers competed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and participated in the USF Open. The sole Mav that competed in track was freshman Matthew Stocker who took home first place in the 1500 meter run. He finished the race with a time of 4:01:88.

Senior Morgan Stampley was leading the way for the Mav women throwers when she placed third by recording a throw of 168’07”. Junior Bryan Caffin met similar results for the Mav men and placed third with a recorded throw of 172’02”. Sophomore Jayme LaPlante placed eighth with his throw of 143’11”.

LaPlante had more success in the discus toss where he placed third with a throw of 160’09”. He would also end up in seventh place for the shot put throw while teammate Caffin finished in fourth for the event with his toss of 50’03.25”.

Next week the teams will be back in action when they head to California on April 14.