Sheena Devine and Joe Remitz capped the 2008 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships by being named as the league's Female and Male Field Athletes of the Year Saturday at Gillett Recreation/Fitness Center.
The duo led the way for the Beavers in the meet as each captured a pair of NSIC titles. Saturday Devine added a shot put crown to the hammer throw championship she garnered in day one of competition.
She stretched the tape to a distance of 51-07.75 breaking her own school record in the event and shattering an 18-year-old NSIC mark by more than six feet. The throw also ranks as the second-longest mark in the nation this season, just a half an inch shy of the longest, and automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Mankato Mar. 14-17.
Remitz followed suit. After claiming top prize and an NSIC record in the shot put Friday, he added a 35-pound weight throw crown on the final day of competition. His best throw of 60-11.25 stands as a new BSU record, a new conference record and moves him up three spots to ninth on the NCAA Division II honor roll for the indoor season, almost assuring him of a spot in the weight throw the national meet in two weeks.
In addition to Devine in Remitz several other Beavers scored team points for Bemidji State with many earning all-conference honors. Freshman sprinter Kristi Buerkle earned All-NSIC honors in the 400-meter dash finishing second with a school record and provisionally qualifying time of 57.69. She also added an All-NSIC Honorable mention finish in the 200-meter dash crossing the line in a time of 26.05 to finish third.
ADVERTISEMENT
Nicole Friend shaved more than a second off her season-best time in the 600-meter dash to finish fourth in the event. Her time of 1:37.66 was just four one hundredths off the school-record pace set by Shelby Hougen a year ago.
Friend and Buerkle also teamed up with Rebecca Hougen and M'Kelle Tomberlin to break the BSU record in the 4x400-meter relay for the second time in as many weeks. The squad placed third with the first sub four-minute time in school history with a 3:59.95.
Also earning All-Conference Honorable Mention honors for the women was Angela Winsor who scored a third-place finish in the pole vault clearing a height of 10-07.00.
In men's competition Kyle Nooker placed sixth in the 200-meter dash posting a season-best time of 23.22.
The junior also ran a leg of the BSU 4x400-meter relay team that placed third in the meet.
In all, Bemidji state had six student-athlete post All-Conference finishes, two earn All-NSIC Honorable mention and four individual championships.
The BSU women finished in tied with Winona State University fourth place with a team total of 54 points. University of Mary took home top honors with 177.
The men's competition was also won by Mary (N.D.). The Marauders scored a team total of 127 to edge out Northern State (111.50). Bemidji State finished fifth at 75.50
ADVERTISEMENT
Next on the docket for BSU is the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.
Devine has automatically qualified for the event in both the shot put and the weight throw. Remits has punched his ticket in the shot, he will have to wait for the final invitation in the weight throw.
For those that have not qualified for the national championships, the BSU outdoor track and field season is just around the corner. The Beavers' first meet is slated for April 5 at Hamline University in St. Paul.
