March 1, 2003

Bemidji, Minn. - The Bemidji State University men moved up a spot in day three at the 2003 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships to finish second overall. On the women’s side, BSU took sixth. Minnesota-Duluth won both team titles with the women Bulldogs garnering their 10th straight crown. NSIC Men Coach of the Year honors went to Bill Hudspith from UM-Duluth and NSIC Women Coach of the Year went to Keith Barnier from MSU-Moorhead. The female athlete of the year went to Emily Shoop from Concordia-St. Paul while Chris Nulle from MSU-Moorhead received the recognition on the men’s side.

“ Overall performance for both the men and women was a B+,” said head coach Craig Hougen. “I expected the men to be second and anything lower than that would have been a disappointed. For the women, I was hoping for fifth and praying for fourth.”

The Beavers were highlighted today by the school record set by Mark Nordell in the triple jump (14.05m), the three second-place finishes by Steve Leuer and the provisional mark set by Melanie
Hoheisel in the 55m hurdles (8.44).

Leuer narrowly missed the crown in the mile (4:19.94) as he was :00.41 of a second behind the leader.
Also, his 2:34.41 mark in the 1,000m was just :00.39 of a second out of first and was :00.22 of a second out of first in the 600m as he ran it in a time of 1:22.77. Hoheisel, who took fifth in the 55m as well, currently stands 13th in the country in the hurdles and will get word early next week if she will be competing at nationals in Boston, Mass.

“Individually, we had some fantastic performances,” said Hougen. “Melanie (Hoheisel), Steve (Leuer), Steve Schreiber with the title in the high jump. Mark Nordell with a new school record in the triple jump. I feel 90 percent of our athletes had their best performances of the year today and that is what you really want (as a coach).”

Last season, the Beaver men placed second behind UM-D while the women were seventh.

The top-two finishers in each event are all-conference while the third-place performer is honorable mention. Also, the relay champions are recognized as all-conference. Complete individual and team results of the whole meet can be viewed at /athletics/

FINAL TEAM FINISHES - 2003 NSIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Men
1. UM-Duluth 225
2. Bemidji State 110
3. MSU-Moorhead 104
4. Wayne State (NE) 95.5
5. Northern State 77
6. Concordia-SP 62.5
7. UM-Morris 9
Women
1. UM-Duluth 159
2. MSU-Moorhead 124
3. Winona State 123
4. Concordia-SP 90
5. Northern State 88
6. Bemidji State 55
7. Wayne State (NE) 43
8. UM-Morris 16