Stangler, Wetering, Prince and Dilling Earn Track and Field Honors
Rachel Stangler of Augustana and Tyler Wetering of South Dakota have been named the North Central Conference Indoor Track Athletes of the Week while LaCheryl Prince of Nebraska-Omaha and Jim Dilling of Minnesota State have been named the North Central Conference Indoor Field Athletes of the Week.
Stangler, a junior from Albany, Minn., won the mile at the Ted Nelson Classic. She set the school record with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 5:02.33. The previous record was 5:04.99 set by Leah DeVries in 1995.
Wetering, a junior from Sioux Falls, S.D., led the men's Distance Medley Relay that shattered state and school records with a 9:50.23 at the Iowa State Classic. Wetering ran the mile leg of the relay in a 4:06.5 split as this group of USD men's track and field athletes clocked a 9:50.23 which was an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Division II meet and the best time in DII this season. The USD squad, which finished fourth behind three Division I schools (Northern Iowa, Navy and Minnesota), broke the state record by more than seven seconds (Black Hills State, 9:57.91, 2001). The squad broke USD's school record by over nine seconds as the 2005 USD squad originally set a mark of 9:59.43. The distance medley relay included four student-athletes from South Dakota, who all had personal-bests in their respective legs. The other members were Ben Oberle (:48.7, 400 meters), Josh Jeffery (3:03, 1,200-meters) and Scott Hargens (1:51.4, 800-meters).
Prince, a senior from Omaha, Neb., won the triple jump with a mark of 38-8 1/4 and the long jump with a distance of 17-11 at the Wayne State Wildcat Open. The triple jump mark is a provisional qualifying distance for the NCAA meet.
Dilling, a senior from Fond du Lac, Wis., finished third in the high jump at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. with a jump of 7-4 1/4. He defeated nine NCAA Division I athletes in the meet in which he participated by invitation.
Others nominated: Track Male: Pat Lehmann, Minnesota
State; Bart Johnson, Augustana. Track Female: Brittany
Henderson, Minnesota State; Amy Lindner, South Dakota. Field
Male: Bryan Prairie, Augustana. Field Female: Katelin
Rains, Minnesota State.