The NCAA today announced its list of participants for the 2004 Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships to be held May 27-29 in Pomona, Calif. The University of Minnesota Duluth will be represented at the meet by five student-athletes participating in eight events. The three men and two women from UMD's track and field teams mark the largest representation at a NCAA outdoor meet in the history of Bulldog outdoor track and field. In 1997 UMD sent three men and a women for a total of four participants and in 1998 the school sent a thrower and a men's relay team.
Senior thrower Dan Soldner (Cold Spring, Minn.) headlines the list of UMD's 2004 participants as he will be competing in men's shot put, discus and hammer throw at this year's national meet. The shot put runner-up in the 2004 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field meet, heads into the outdoor championships ranked third in the shot, seventh in the discus and ninth in the hammer. Soldner currently holds UMD records for the shot put and hammer throw.
UMD's other male representatives will be Nate Beerling and Robb Winterfeld. Beerling (Sr., St. Peter, Minn.), the 1,500-meter record-holder at UMD participates in his first national meet posting the 11th best time (3:50.08) nationally in 2004 in the 1,500. Winterfeld (Jr., Cambridge, Minn.) makes his second consecutive appearance at the outdoor championships after placing sixth in the 3,000-meter steeple chase, setting a UMD record (9:05.34) at the 2003 championships. This season he heads into the meet ranked fourth after posting a 9:05.49 at last week's Qualifier in Northfield, Minn.
Andrea Vake and Heather Hamilton will represent the UMD women's teams at the event as each make their second consecutive trips to the NCAA meet. Vake (Sr., Hibbing, Minn.) enters the 400-meter dash at the championships after missing the final cut in the same event last year. Her 2004 school record time of 55.43 in the 400 ranks her 13th going into the meet. Hamilton (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) also makes her second appearance in the NCAA Outdoor Championships as she ranks tenth in the 400-meter hurdles (61.35). Last year she participated in the same event, failing to make the finals.
The Bulldogs wrapped up their final season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference sweeping the team titles. The women captured their 11th straight outdoor conference crown while the men won their third consecutive championship and 11th in the last 12 years. UMD also captured each of the NSIC's top individual honors as Heather Hamilton and Dan Soldner were selected by the league's coaches as the Women's and Men's Track and Field Athlete of the Year respectively.
