MANKATO, MN – The University of Mary men's track and field team sent eight athletes to their respective track finals, earned All-NSIC honors in an event, and currently lead the Heptathlon after day 1 of the NSIC Championships.

The final event of the day for the Marauders was their first All-NSIC performance of the conference meet. The Distance Medley Relay squad of Joseph Ringhand (1200m), Izaak Kudrna (400m), Ian Butman (800m), and Gideon Hammah (1600m) took home a third-place finish in the event with a 10:11.364, three seconds shy of a school record.

Sophomore Kenny Moxey Jr. holds the top spot in the Heptathlon with three events remaining. The talented multi-athlete won both the Shot Put (13.64m) and High Jump (1.95m) legs, with the latter being a personal best. He placed second in the Long Jump with a 6.75m and was 3^rd in the 60m Dash at 7.18.

Charles Tomczik is 10^th and Preston Lemar is 12^th in the Heptathlon after day 1 in the 16-athlete field.

After suffering a mid-race injury at last year's NSIC Championships, senior Caleb Hansen scored conference points with a 6^th place finish in the 5000m. Hansen, who led the race for 1800m, clocked in at 14:55.44.

Lucas Kupfer earned conference points in the Long Jump, placing 7^th with a 6.94m leap.

All four UMary entries in the 600m Dash qualified for tomorrow's finals in an impressive showing. Nathan Andrews led the way at 1:21.39, placing 3^rd in the prelims. Ryan Koberoski followed in 5^th at 1:21.81. Jack Koppelsloen moved on with a 7^th-place finish of 1:22.13. Freshman Josiah Pena rounded out the qualifiers with a PR of 1:22.44.

Senior Dawson Hawkinson will be participating in a pair of finals tomorrow. He first qualified for the 60m Dash, placing 6th in the prelims with a 6.93. Hawkinson will also be in the 200m Dash finals, winning his heat and owning the 5^th seed with a 22.11.

Freshman Ian Butman impressed in the 800m prelims, automatically qualifying for tomorrow's finals by winning his heat at 1:57.02.

Sophomore Joseph Ringhand will be the top seed in tomorrow's 1000m finals after finishing with a 2:30.43 in the prelims, winning his heat.

Full results from day 1 of the NSIC Championships can be found here with the current team standings below:

Minnesota State University – 41
Augustana University – 27
Minnesota State University Moorhead – 24
Northern State University – 24
Wayne State College – 18
University of Sioux Falls – 16
Concordia University, St. Paul – 16
University of Mary – 11
University of Jamestown – 8
University of Minnesota Duluth – 8
Minot State University – 2
Southwest Minnesota State University – 0

The first men's event tomorrow at the NSIC Championships will be the Heptathlon's 60m Hurdles at 9:45 a.m.

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