SMSU’s Men’s and Women’s Track and Field finished their indoor season at the NSIC Conference Championships in Mankato on Saturday, Feb. 24. The two-day meet was held in the Meyer’s field house at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The highlight of the meet is Bashir Aidrus’s performance in the 5k, winning the race and setting a new meet record of 14:33.86 (that estimates to about 4:40 mile pace for 3.1 miles). He beat the previous record by 6 seconds. “I remember [Head Coach Dan Allen] coming to me right before the race telling me that the meet record was 14:39, and that I should break it. So, that was part of the plan, but wasn’t the priority. The priority was winning the race, no matter what it took,” Aidrus said.

Aidrus was also All-Conference honors in two other events the night before. “It was a great weekend, 3 races, 3 records down. [Setting the conference record] was the best feeling, to pull out a win this year considering I ran 71 seconds (15:44) slower and got 21st last year at the same meet,” Aidrus said.

He placed second in the 3,000-meter run, finishing with a new SMSU record of 8:32.89. Then Bashir ran the mile portion of the men’s distance medley relay, an event that was immediately after the 3k. The men’s DMR finished sixth with a time of 10:25.46, yet another school record reset. The DMR included Chase Hamilton, Hever Velenzuela and Jake Evans.

Other highlights of the meet included:

Kristen Weber, who placed 8 in the women’s 800-meter run, earning All-NSIC honors. While qualifying for finals, Weber ran the second fastest time in school history, finishing at 2:24.95.

Denitsa DoBrova broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.57 in prelims, just shy of qualifying for finals.

Ashanti Payne finished sixth in the weight throw with a toss of 16.67m.

Rebecca Manteuffel placed fifth in the weight throw with a school record mark of 16.65m. Fellow thrower Angela Prokosch finished in seventh place for the team with a toss of 16.50m, which ranks third best in program history.

While the mustangs had some great individual performances, each of the teams faced difficulties making finals and earning points. Overall, the SMSU men’s team finished tenth in conference, and the women’s team finished fourteenth.

In regards to the team’s performance, Head Coach Dan Allen says “We were happy with how we performed, but not necessarily with the results. We had a lot of personal bests, but just missed finals and scoring at the meet. I was extremely happy with the way Bashir raced. I think that [Aidrus’s conference record] will stand for quite some time.”

Mustang Track and Field will be back for the outdoor season, starting with the Mustang Open here on campus, Friday, Mar. 30.