Both of the University of Minnesota Duluth track and field teams are poised to defend their 2003 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Championships as the men sit comfortably in the lead while the women trail Winona State University by 10 points after the first day of the NSIC Championships in Duluth, Minn. UMD's Erin Foss garnered the only championship for the women in day one setting a new NSIC record in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 38:07.57. On the men's side of the competition, three Bulldog student-athletes captured championships. Brian Polski ran UMD's fastest time of the season to take the title in the 10,000-meter run, clocking a time of 32:28.41. Robb Winterfeld successfully defended his championship 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:20.70 and Dan Soldner led the Bulldogs in a sweep of the top three spots in the hammer throw with a toss of 180' 08\".

With 14 events remaining Winona State University leads the charge for the NSIC women's team championship with 74 points. UMD sits in second with 64 while Minnesota State University-Moorhead has 59 and is seated in the third spot. The rest of the teams are ranked as follows: Northern State University 37, Bemidji State University 31, Wayne State College 29 and Concordia University-St. Paul rounds out the competition in seventh with 15 points.

The UMD men currently sit in first place (99) while almost doubling their closest competitor. Concordia University-St. Paul is more than 40 points behind the Bulldogs with a total of 52 points after the first day of competition. The rest of the field stacks up as follows: Wayne State College 50, Northern State University 47, Minnesota State University-Moorhead 30 and Bemidji State University 28.

The second day of competition gets underway Saturday (May 8) at 10:00 a.m. with the field events. Track events will commence at 1:00 p.m. at Griggs Field. Award ceremonies will follow the finals of each event.