Aberdeen, S.D. - The University of Minnesota Duluth men's track & field squad currently sits in eighth place in the team standings after day two of the NSIC Championships. Combined with their scores from day one, UMD has totaled 15.5 points towards the team leaderboard.

"We battled today and came away with some unexpected points," said Head Coach Karly Brautigam. "You always feel like you leave something out there during a conference meet but I think we have set ourselves up for a great finish tomorrow. I could not be more excited to see what our seniors put together tomorrow. They are a special group and are contributing in a huge way this championship."

Starting on the track, Matthew Trutna noted a sixth place podium finish for the Bulldogs in the men's 10000 meter run. Trutna tallied a time of 32:05.29 in the event to earn UMD's first podium finish of the day. In the 3000m steeplechase, Jack VanKempen's mark of 9:39.05 was good enough for fifth place on the individual leaderboard. In the prelims for the men's 400 meter hurdles, Ben Palmquist notched an impressive second place finish and qualifying time of 55.51. In the 800 meter prelims, both Cole Fechner and Christian Leonard would tally qualifying times of 1:54.51 and 1:55.08, respectively. Additionally, Owen Dickenson's mark of 4:00.45 in the men's 1500 meter prelims would also hold up as a qualifying time. 

In the field, Eli Bicek would chip in a fifth place finish in the hammer throw after securing a distance of 49.94 meters. A sixth place finish would go to Mathew Caines in the high jump with a mark of 1.91 meters. In the same event, freshman Luke Oberleitner would also note a height of 1.91 meters to tie with Caines. After competing on day one of the championships, Kyle Kucera continued his decathlon with an excellent second place finish in the men's pole vault. In the event, Kucera managed a height 4.08 meters.

The Bulldogs currently sit in eighth place through seven events. 

Up Next
The Bulldogs will finish off the NSIC Championships on Saturday afternoon in Aberdeen, S.D.