BURNSVILLE — The Southwest Minnesota State University women’s indoor track & field team was picked to finish 12th in the annual Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Track & Field Preseason Coaches’ poll released on Monday.

SMSU, under the direction of second-year head coach Kirk Nauman, earned 47 points in the poll, as the program enters its eighth season of women’s indoor track and field. The team finished 12th out of 15 teams in last season’s NSIC Indoor Championships. The University of Mary was the top pick in this season’s preseason poll earning 191 points with 10 first place votes. Minnesota State and Augustana each were selected in second place with 179 points.

SMSU senior thrower Rebecca Manteuffel, from Cologne, and junior mid-distance Caitlyn Regan, from Wondonga, Victoria, Australia, were both named an NSIC “Athlete to Watch”. Manteuffel was named a 2020 NCAA Indoor All-American as she qualified in the weight throw before the championship was canceled due to COVID-19. She earned All-NSIC honors in 2020 with a third place toss of 18.45m in the weight throw at the NSIC Championships. Manteuffel also finished eight at the NSIC Championships in the shot put at 13.56m. Regan is in her first season at SMSU following a solid junior college career at North Iowa Area Community College.

The SMSU women’s indoor track & field team official schedule for 2021 will be released later this month.

Men

BURNSVILLE — The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s indoor track & field team was selected to finish 10th in the annual Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Track & Field Preseason Coaches’ poll released on Monday.

SMSU, under the direction of second-year head coach Kirk Nauman, earned 28 points in the poll, as the program enters its eighth season of men’s indoor track and field. The team finished 10th out of 12 teams in last season’s NSIC Indoor Championships. Minnesota State was the top pick in this season’s preseason poll earning 120 points with 10 first place votes with Augustana coming in second place with 112 points and two first place votes.

SMSU senior thrower Connor Wigand, from Manitowoc, Wis., and senior sprint/jumps Isaiah Nelson, from Hutchinson, were both named an NSIC “Athlete to Watch”.

Wigand was earned All-NSIC honors at the 2020 NSIC Championships with a second place finish in the shot put with a mark of 16.62m. He also finished in seventh place in the weight throw at last year’s NSIC Championships with a toss of 17.38m. Nelson placed 10th in the triple jump with a mark of 13.58m and was 19th in the long jump at 6.20m at the 2020 NSIC Championships.

The SMSU men’s indoor track & field team schedule for 2021 will be released later this month. The indoor season will culminate on Feb. 26-27 at the NSIC Indoor Championship hosted by Minnesota State University inside Myers Fieldhouse.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications