As the clock hit midnight on July 1, 2008 the new makeup of the Northern Sun Conference became official. The NSIC became a 14-team league with the addition of Augustana College, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, Mankato and St. Cloud State. Although some of the teams are former rivals from the NCC, UMD returns to a conference it dominated for many years. DtB and Throwing Farther had a chance to catch-up with a couple of their coaches.
Travis Zins, Throws Coach, St. Cloud StateHow do you expect the Huskies to fare?
- I believe that the team will be in the top half of the conference. We are a younger team but we have competed well throughout the season.
What are you looking for out of the Husky throws team?
- Like any other coach I am hoping for Personal Best performances. We have set up the indoor season to do so and I feel pretty good about the outlook. Concerning placing, I am looking for most of our points on the shot side with both men and women. Both Adam Kershaw and Mitch Bruzik are in the top ten of the conference in both shot and weight and I am looking for them to make some noise in each event. Becca Kitzman will anchor the women's throwing where she is in the top ten of the conference for shot.
Biggest competition at conference?- Ben Jacobson from Mary has the best throw in both shot and weight going into the weekend with a 54-4 and 59-11 respectively. He will be the favorite going in.
Is there any thrower that you see is on the cusp of a breakthrough?
- I am looking for Becca Kitzman to have a substantial breakthrough in the shot at any time. She has been improving each week in practice and meets and hopefully we will be able to get the juices flowing and have a big PR at conference.
What have been the biggest hurdles to this point?
- While I am very excited to get to conference and have great performances, I wish that I had more time for the teaching. We had a great fall and that continued into the season. We have gotten better each week with our performances, as shown with 5-6 weeks in a row with multiple pr's, and our consistency has been good as well. But, as any other coach, I wish that I had been able to work with them more to set up potential National Qualifying marks.
Eric Wirz, Throws Coach, UMD
What has been the biggest surprise of the indoor season?
- I have been a little surprised at the success of the group as a whole this indoor season. I knew going into the season that a few individuals would compete well but did not expect the success the group has had. Many of the younger throwers have had a "break out" season. We have the best senior leadership we've had in a long time and the younger group has followed their example very well. They have made it their initiative to succeed as a group.
What was the turning point of the season?
- I think the turning point for the throws group this season was the Warren Bowlus meet at UW Stout. There were many great performances and personal bests. I think it was at that point that the group realized their potential, which has been a big confidence boost ever since.
How do you expect the Bulldogs to fare as a team?
- I think both our mens and womens teams will compete very well this weekend. It will be interesting where the chips fall with the new conference layout. With the number of teams competing , the points with be much more spread out making it more of anyone's game. Mankato is a perennial power house and are the team to beat in many events. Wayne State also has a strong team. I also have a feeling Mary will be a tough team, though this weekend will be the first time we've seen them. Really, every team has a legitimate chance to win the conference title. To me, that shows the quality of the programs in the NSIC, making it one of the toughest conferences in the nation.
Biggest competition at conference?
On the women's side, I think we'll be competing with Winona for points. On the men's side, tough to answer. Seems there is tight competition across the board.
Is there any thrower that you see is on the cusp of a breakthrough?
- I could list several, but the one that stands out in my mind is Maria Swanson. She had a big meet last weekend at St. Johns, qualifying for the National meet in shot and increasing her weight throw PR by a foot and just short of a provisional mark. The light bulb has gone off so to speak, and I have a feeling her best performances are yet to come.
What have been the biggest hurdles to this point?
- Staying focused. The indoor season is pretty long, especially with all the off and pre-season training. The weather is finally starting to warm and thoughts of being outside are prevalent. Keeping the athletes focused on one last, and hopefully 2 more, indoor meets is challenging. But to their credit, they continue to work smart to finish out the season with their best performances.
John Fulkrod, Head Coach, UMD
We were optimistic going into the season that we had a lot of dedicated athletes who were going to do well and set some nice PRs. I wouldn't say I have any big surprises other than some athletes who have excelled more than you might have guessed-especially our freshman distance girl Morgan Place who leads conference honor roll in 3 events and is ranked 5th Nationally with a school record of 16:51.41 in the 5000. We have PRs of just about all our throwers and I feel several could pop that big mark to get them to Nationals - we actually have 4 different throwers who have met a National provisional mark - 3 women 1 man and we have set school indoor records in the womens shot and mens weight.
Mankato has to be favored in both the men and women. St. Cloud has a much better overall team for both men and women will be tough for us to get ahead of, Heather Miller is just a great athlete. Our biggest hurdle is the same as it has been for the last three years - we just have no luck getting all our good kids healthy and this year is no exception as we have had some injuries that have taken some totally out of indoor and an excessive amount of recent sickness that has take a toll- with that said - this is clearly the best women's team in school history - after favored Mankato it will likely be blanket finish for the next 4-5 spots in the team finish- we are one of the teams that hope to be in the blanket.
Best of luck to all the teams and athletes competing in this weekends NSIC Championships in Bemidji, MN. The competition will begin at noon on Friday with the field events. The long jump, pole vault, high jump and weight throw will be the first to be contested. The running events will begin at 3:00 p.m. The Championship resumes at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday with finals beginning at 1:00 p.m.
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