MANKATO, Minn. – All-American Alexis Zeis defended her crown in the 3,000 meter run to headline the 15^th ranked University of Mary's efforts on opening day of the 2016 Northern Sun women's indoor track & field championships.
 
The defending NSIC champions are fourth overall with 31 points after the opening day. Ten Marauders also advanced through the preliminaries to the finals on Saturday.
 
A sophomore from Bismarck, North Dakota, Zeis registered the Marauders lone win on the day when she outpaced the field in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 9:42.91. In a fairly close finish, Zeis crossed the line 1.52 seconds in front of runner up Hannah Olson from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
 
Zeis will go for a second championship on Saturday after earning a spot in the finals of the one mile run. Ranked third nationally in the event, Zeis placed second in the preliminaries with a time of 5:15.23. Saving her energy and doing just enough to advance, her time was about 26 seconds off her top mark of the season.
 
After placing second at the NSIC multi championships, senior Molly McDonald placed third in the high jump with her best effort of the season. The Lakewood, Colorado. native cleared 1.68 meters, same as the top two finishers. McDonald finished third because it took two attempts to clear the final height while the first two needed just one attempt each to clear that level.
 
The Marauders claimed five team points after taking fourth in the Distance Medley Relay. The quartet of Jaiden Schuette (Bismarck, North Dakota), Julia Hammerschmidt (Hinrichshagen, Germany), Sommer Haugrud (Pelican Rapids, Minnesota) and Kaycie Stewart (Corvallis, Mont.) ran the event in 12:27.54.
 
Rounding out the Marauders day one scoring was Jasmyn Garcia (Las Vegas, Nevada) in the long jump. Her best effort was a leap of 5.45 meters.
 
Tonie-Ann Pandohie qualified for Saturday's finals in three different events. The sophomore All-American cruised through the 60 meter hurdle preliminaries in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.55 seconds, the second best time in the event. The Kingston, Jamaica, native was also fourth in the 200 meter dash preliminaries in 25.19 seconds and seventh in the 60 meter dash prelims with a time of 7.78, her best time of the year.
 
A pair of Marauders posted the second and third best times in the 400 meter dash preliminaries. Melanie Rodriguez (Burlington, Ontario) ran a time of 57.97 seconds and Chante Spotser (Federal Way, Washington) crossed the finish line in 58.10 seconds to advance to Saturday's finals.
 
In the 600 meter run preliminaries, senior Josie Guptill (Quinn, South Dakota) claimed the second slot with a time of 1:38.02.
 
Schuette, a freshman from Bismarck, North Dakota, cruised to a slot in the finals of the 800 meter run after posting the third best preliminary time of 2:17.11.
 
Maria Bolibruch, a freshman from Kingstown, Rhode Island, will join Pandohie in the 60 meter hurdles finals. She ran a provisional qualifying time of 8.75 seconds to place fifth in the preliminaries.
 
Jackie Harmon (Fago, North Dakota), also a freshman, snared the final slot in the 1,000 meter run with a mark of 3:03.01 in the preliminaries.
 
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