With outdoor competition set to begin this weekend, the Wayne State College women’s and men’s track & field program were listed among the NSIC Coaches’ Poll along with top performers being highlighted.
According to a release from Wayne State Athletics, the Wayne State College women were picked to finish 10th with 65 points while the Wildcat men were selected ninth with 28 points in the 2025 NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll announced by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota.
Selected as Wildcat Athletes to Watch this season for the women are senior thrower Reilly Young and freshman sprinter Zoey Holmes as well as junior thrower Daylin Mallory and freshman sprinter Emmanuel Badejo for the men.
In the women’s division, Minnesota State-Mankato was voted as the team to beat this season receiving 167 points and 12 first-place votes. University of Mary was second with 157 points and one first-place ballot followed by Augustana in third at 143 points. Sioux Falls was next with 137 points and the remaining first-place vote with Northern State fifth at 107 points.
Minnesota Duluth was sixth with 106 points followed by Winona State (89), MSU Moorhead (74), Concordia-St. Paul (73) and Wayne State 10th with 65 points. Minot State and Southwest Minnesota State tied for 11th each with 48 points followed by Bemidji State (44) and St. Cloud State (16) rounding out the coaches’ poll.
Young, a senior from Scotia (Central Valley HS), is a returning All-NSIC performer for the Wildcats after placing third last spring in the discus with a mark of 151’ 6”.
Holmes, a freshman sprinter from Forest City, Iowa (Forest City HS), earned an eighth-place medal in the 600-meter dash at the NSIC Indoor Championships with a time of 1:39.65.
During the men’s division, 12-time defending NSIC champion Minnesota State-Mankato was voted as the team to beat again this season collecting 98 points and nine first-place votes followed by Augustana in second with 91 points and the remaining two first-place votes. University of Mary and MSU Moorhead tied for third with 74 points with Northern State fifth at 67 points.
Sioux Falls came in sixth at 56 points followed by Concordia-St. Paul (49) and Minnesota Duluth (38) with Wayne State ninth at 28 points. Southwest Minnesota State (16) and Minot State (14) closed out the coaches’ poll.
Mallory, a junior thrower from Norfolk (Norfolk HS), was tabbed as Wayne State’s Field Athlete to Watch after earning All-NSIC honors last spring placing third in the discus (164’ 8”) followed by a fifth-place mark in the shot put. This season, Mallory set a new indoor school record in the shot put (55’ 2 ¼”) and was fifth in the event at the NSIC Indoor Championships.
Badejo, a freshman from Ijebu Ode, Nigeria, earned All-NSIC honors during the indoor season placing third in the 400-meter dash while also running a leg on the seventh-place 1600-meter relay team. He set a new indoor school record in the 400-meter dash this season in 47.72 seconds.
The Wayne State College women’s and men’s outdoor track & field season opens this weekend by hosting the Wildcat Outdoor Classic at LeRoy Simpson Track/Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne. The event has been revised to a one-day schedule on Friday, March 28 due to potential Saturday weather.
