The University of Minnesota Duluth men's/women's indoor track & field teams competed on Saturday in day one of the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Mankato. 

DAY ONE RECAP
Day one of the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships featured the field events along with prelims of most of the running events. Rachel Boelke finished in second in the women's 600m prelims with a time of 1:37.12 to qualify for the finals on Sunday. In the men's 600m, it was Bereket Loer who earned the qualifying mark of 1:24.48 and advancing to the finals. In the men's and women's 800m, the Bulldogs saw two women -- Savannah Schley (2:17.13) and Haleigh Reindl (2:19.30) along with two men -- Jordan Gruenes (1:59.16) and Brennan Amundson (2:00.92) advance to the finals. In the women's and men's prelims of the 1000m, it was Bulldogs Franny Seidel (3:02.58 - third) and Owen Dickenson (2:31.89 - second) advancing to the finals. 

In the men's 5000m race, the Bulldogs saw three point earners and podium finishes. They were led by Lucas Selman with a time of 15:06.05 (fifth), Austin Antony with a time of 15:12.88 (seventh), and Jack Van Kempen in a time of 15:13.52 (eighth). 

In the field events, Bulldogs Luke Oberleitner (1.95m - fifth) and Jaden Johnson (1.95m - sixth) landed podium finishes in the men's high jump. 

The Bulldogs distance medley relay teams also landed on the podium with the men finishing in eighth (10.34.94 - Gruenes, Rogers, Kvaal, Dickenson) and the women finishing in sixth (12:16.63 - Verkerke, Boelke, Reindl, Peterson). 

The UMD women's team currently sits with 3 points headed into the final day, while the UMD men's team earned 15 points.

Coach Brautigam's Thoughts on the women's team:
"We have an incredibly resilient group that fought hard today even when it got tough. We had a lot of PRs and we are set up for points in some unexpected areas tomorrow. A lot of first time conference competitors out there and we are excited for the future of this group and what tomorrow will bring if we lock in and finish strong."

Coach Brautigam's Thoughts on the men's team:
"We had an exceeds expectations kind of day for the men on day one with some quality opportunities for points left out there tomorrow! This group feeds off of one another and competes for each other. In this conference you have to have a great day to be in the points hunt and our day 1 competitors showed the rest of the group that's possible."

Up Next
The Bulldogs will head into day two of the NSIC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday beginning at 9:00 am.