MANKATO — The Southwest Minnesota State men’s track & field team earned 15.5 points, highlighted by an all-conference performance by Connor Wigand, to finish in 11th place at the 2021 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships Friday held inside Myers Field House on the campus of Minnesota State University.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, this year’s championship was a two-day event for the men, while the women’s championship was held on Saturday. Also due to COVID, the field size for this year’s championship were reduced from the top 30 to the top 16 declared student-athletes for individual events, the top 12 for heptathlon and pentathlon and one relay per event per school.

Minnesota State won its 10th straight conference title with 201.5 points, just ahead of second place Augustana with 200 points.

Wigand finished second in the shot put with a mark of 16.48m to earn All-NSIC honors for the second straight year. He also finished second at last year’s championship. Wigand also advanced to the finals of the weight throw and placed seventh with a toss of 17.43m.

Renald Pierre also had a solid day for the Mustangs as he earned the team points with a fourth-place time of 8.4 in the 60-meter hurdles. Nathan Stearns also ran in the event and finished 12th at 8.9.

McKallen Smith tied for eighth in the high jump at 1.85m.

In the pole vault, Hunter Smith snapped his own program record at 3.97m to finish tied for 10th overall, while Jed Hansen placed 12th at 3.82m.

Isaiah Nelson competed in the triple jump and closed with distance of 13.31m to tie for 10th place.

Ruben Montoya placed 15th in the 600 meters with a time of 1:30.71, while Jordan Nolan also competed on Friday in the shot put, but fouled on his three attempts.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications