BISMARCK, N.D. -- The Minot State University track and field team starts the 2021 season with a third-place finish (196 total points) at the UMary Winter Carnival to start the new season with a solid showing. Junior Leif Nelson set a DII program record in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.93 meters (6'4'') and winning the event on Saturday in Bismarck, North Dakota.

The day started off with a bang for the Beavers as Leif Nelson jumped to a Division II school record clearing a height of 1.93 meters (6'4") and winning the high jump competition. From there Hunter Clark's finished third in the weight throw with a toss of 14.53m. That mark helped him maintain a No. 7 DII era top-10 spot and moves Corbin Harris, who finished 5th in the event with a toss of 13.69m, down the list to No. 9, and Samuel Kreins, who finished 6th in the weight throw with a toss of 13.16m, down to No. 10 on the program record respectively. 

In the women's long jump, Grace Loftus finished with a distance of 4.27 meters (14'11), which is good for a DII era No. 6 distance in program history. 

The Beavers got back in the win column with the first victory of her college career by Breanna Johns-Oster following a weight throw of 14.71 meters to beat out teammate, and second-place finisher, Tori Nygard for the top spot in the weight throw finals. Peyton Lammerding finished fourth in her first collegiate meet with a throw of 14.04.

In the women's mile, the Beavers saw two top-10 finishers, with Jessica Martinez placing 2nd with a time of 5:38.74 and Elizabeth Holzer finished 8th as she clocked a 5:55.07 marking. In the men's mile, Nick Merillana finished 4th with a time of 4:58.96. 

Nathan Trujillo-Aragon continues to climb up the program rankings as he moves into 5th on the DII-era list for the Beavers with a 3rd-place finish in the men's 60m hurdles, clocking a time of 8.88. Kundai Mutungi performed impressively in another event to move himself up to 6th in the DII era standings for Minot State. He finished seventh on the men's 60m with a time of 7.26. 

In the women's 400m, Ashley Miller clocked the 8th-best time in the meet with a 1:05.05 marking and Jordan Rodin finished 9th in the 400m with a time of 1:05.63 as Rodin finished just on the heels of Miller in the event. 

Joseph Green finished 4th in the men's 400m with a time of 54.24. 

To the shot put we go as Logan Krueger posted the second-best throw in the competition at 14.22. Corbin Harris tossed a solid 13.40 for a 7th-place finish and Kreins placed 8th with a toss of 12.99 meters. Harris and Kreins are now No. 2 and No. 3 on the DII era program list with those distances. 

Emily Hansen grabbed a 2nd-place finish in the women's 600m as she clocked a time of 1:50.09. That performance moves Hansen up to the No. 6 spot on the DII era top-10 list for MSU women's track and field in the 600m. 

In the men's 600 meters, Vincente Guereca finished in 4th place with a time of 1:33.76. Guereca moves to No. 6 on the Beavers' DII era top-10 list.  

The Beavers won another event after a solid start to the day in the high jump. Sophomore Whitney Hanson sailed past the competition with a time of 2:25.13 in the women's 800 meters. On the men's side in the 800m, Lewis Cotterill finished 2nd in the competition with an impressive performance that moved him to No. 3 in the DII era top-10 times in program history. Cotterill finished with a 2:03.51 time and not far behind him was Christian Bird Hat with a 4th-place finish at a time of 2:24.17. Bird Hat sits at No. 9 in the DII era top-10 performance list with that time. 

In the men's 1000m, Trestin Mancillas-Finnerty won the event with a time of 2:36.27. Not far behind him was Marco Murillo with a 3rd-place finish and a time of 2:42.88, and Juan Gutierrez finished 4th as the Beavers almost swept the podium with a finishing time from Gutierrez of 2:44.17. Mancillas-Finnerty (No. 2), Murillo (No. 6), and Gutierrez (No. 7) etch their names in the DII era record books for the Beavers in the event. 

For the women's side in the 1000m, Abby McGee notched a 4th-place finish with a time of 3:16.70 and Monica Okopal placed 6th with a time of 3:39.79. 

Johns-Oster earned the podium for the second time on the day, finishing 3rd in the Shot Put with a No. 2 distance in the DII era for the Beavers (12.36m) and finished 3rd in the meet. Lammerding placed 5th with a toss of 11.00m, Chloe Gunderson finished 7th with a shot put of 9.89m, and Fadzai Madavo finished 10th with a distance of 8.65 meters. These performances put Johns-Oster (No. 2), Lammerding (No. 7), and Gunderson (No. 9) all in the top-10 in the DII era of the Minot State women's throws team. 

Jacob Jensen finished 2nd in the men's 3000m with a time of 8:50.27, Tito Gonzalez finished 8th with a time of 9:30.27, Ryan Kohler placed 10th with a time of 9:41.33, and Grayson Bonilla finished 11th with a time of 9:44.82. Jensen remained No. 3 and Gonzalez moved up to No. 8 on the DII era top-10 list for the Beavers. 

Rodin finished 9th in the women's 200 with a time of 29.24. 

The Beavers featured three top-15 finishers in the men's 200 with Chase Tandy (7th, 23.28), Chase Doty (9th, 23.87), and Connor Bishop (13th, 25.66) all placing solid times. Tandy moves to No. 9 on the DII era top-ten list with his 7th-place finish in the meet. In the women's 3000m, Linda Perez placed 4th, just barely missing the podium by a little over one minute, with a time of 10:45.86. Jessica Martinez finished 7th with a time of 11:15.37. Perez moves to No. 5 and Martinez to No. 9 on the DII era top-10 list. 

In the women's 4x400 relay, the team of Miller, Rodin, Hansen, and Hanson placed 4th with a time of 4:25.83 for the No. 8 performance on the DII era top-10 list. On the men's side of the track in the 4x400 relay, the team of Tandy, Cotterill, Green, and Mancillas-Finnerty finished 4th with a time of 3:33.8 and the team of Trujillo-Aragon, Gutierrez, Guereca, and Doty finish 6th (3:37.50).

The women finished 3rd in the meet with 90 total points and the men finished 4th in the meet with 106 total points. The team results are below. 
 

The Top-4 in the UMary Winter Carnival	Total Points
1. UMary	301
2. Northern State	283
3. Minot State	196
4. Dickinson State	143

The Beavers are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 23 at the Myrle Hanson Open in Spearfish, South Dakota. The event is hosted by Black Hills State University.