College sports: MSU women take second at national track meet

Mar. 11—The Free Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — The Minnesota State women's indoor track and field came up one point short of defending its national championship, finishing second at the NCAA II Indoor Championships on Saturday.

The Mavericks had to finish seventh or better in the final event, the 4x400-meter relay, to move past Adams State but ended up ninth in 3:47.92, falling 52-51. Rose Gaye, Eilika Lane, Rose Cramer and Makayla Jackson ran the third-fastest relay time in team history.

Minnesota State has finished second or first in the last three national meets. The Mavericks had 18 All-America performances.

Denisha Cartwright successfully defended her national title in the 60 meter hurdles with a facility record time of 8.11. Cartwright is only the fifth person in NCAA Division II history to repeat as champion of the 60 hurdles.

Makayla Jackson also claimed her second straight national title, winning the 60 dash in 7.20, which tied the national-meet record. She is also the fifth person in NCAA history to be a multi-time winner in the 60 dash. Cartwright took third at 7.31.

The finals of the 200 dash were the fastest in NCAA Division II history as Cartwright turned in her career-best performance of 23.38 to place third. The top two runners had the fastest times in Division II history.

Lexie Hurst took fourth in the shot put at 50-1/2. Flore Gracia took fifth in the triple jump at 41-feet-6 1/2, with teammates Lillian Washington in ninth (40-1 1/2) and Stella Neophytou in 10th (39-10).

Amanda Montplaisir became the first All-American in team history in the 3,000 run, taking eighth in 9:24.77, taking nearly eight seconds off her own team record.

Men's track and field: Carson Dittel cleared a career-best 17-feet-6 1/2 to finish second and gain All-America honors in the pole vault at the NCAA III Championships.

The Mavericks finished 16th as a team.

The 4x400 relay team of Qai Hussey, Junior Pontes Da Veiga, Kenry Atubel and Rashion Walker placed sixth in 3:11.57, the second-fastest time in team history.

Wrestling: Minnesota State's Darrell Mason won three matches Saturday and finished third at 285 pounds at the NCAA Championships at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Mason, the defending national champion, was seeded sixth. He had decisions of 8-3 and 2-0 to reach the third-place match, where he defeated Cale Gray of Indianapolis 9-5.

Mason finished the season with a 17-4 record.

Gustavus Adolphus

Women's hockey: Emily Olson and Hailey Holland both scored in the first 12 minutes of the first period, and Gustavus Adolphus held on to defeat Wisconsin-River Falls 2-1 in the opening round of the NCAA III tournament at Don Roberts Ice Rink.

It was the fourth meeting for the teams this season, with each winning twice. The Falcons added a goal before the end of the first period.

Tina Press finished with two assists. Katie McCoy made 31 saves, and the Gusties had 35 shots on goal.

The Gusties (24-3) will face Plattsburgh State on Friday in the Frozen Four at Amherst, Massachusetts. Hamilton and No. 1 seed Amherst play in the other semifinal.

Baseball: For the second straight day, the Gusties gave up a late lead and lost 6-5 to Carthage at Tucson, Arizona.

Mitch Casperson had two hits and an RBI, and Bryce Novak had two hits and scored a run. Patrick Timmer, Logan Bjorkman and Nick Azar each had an RBI single.

Jayce Luna pitched five innings, allowing one earned run on two hits with six strikeouts. Sam Baker took the loss in relief.

The Gusties (1-4) play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps onn Sunday.

Women's track and field: Gustavus Adolphus senior Birgen Nelson won her second national championship, taking first in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA III Championships at Birmingham, Alabama.

She set the meet record of 8.39 seconds. She also won the 100 hurdles at the outdoor championships last spring.

Nelson is the first athlete in program history to win an indoor national championship.

Senior Annika Poe earned her second consecutive indoor All-America honor after taking sixth place in the shot put at 47-feet-8. Poe joins Jackie Luehmann (2004) as the only Gusties to earn two indoor All-America honors in the shot put.

Bethany Lutheran

Track and field: Stephanie Witbrod had a pair of top-20 finishes at the NCAA III Championship at Birmingham, Alabama.

She finished 15th in the women's triple jump at 11.44 meters and 20th in the shot put at 10.43 meters.

Jake Marzinske took 16th in the men's triple jump at 14.19 meters.

Witbrod and Marzinske are the first athletes in Bethany history to compete at the indoor national championships.