Ahead of their first indoor competition of the season, the Wayne State College women’s and men’s track & field teams were listed among the preseason coaches polls.
According to a release from Wayne State Athletics, the Wayne State College women’s indoor track & field team was listed 11th with 53 points while the WSC men were picked to finish ninth with 34 points in the 2024-25 NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Polls.
Wildcat women’s student-athletes to watch are juniors Anna Coffee and Olivia Schwarzrock and juniors Quentin Dreyer and Daylin Mallory were listed for the Wayne State College men.
In the women’s preseason poll, Minnesota State-Mankato, who has won the last five NSIC championships, was a unanimous selection to win the title again this year with 13 first-place votes and 169 points followed by the University of Mary in second at 151 points.
Augustana was third with 145 points and the remaining first-place vote (coaches cannot vote for their own team) with Sioux Falls (126) and Minnesota Duluth (123) closing out the top five teams.
Winona State was one point ahead of Northern State for sixth (106-105) with Bemidji State eighth at 76, MSU Moorhead ninth (59) and Concordia-St. Paul 10th with 56 points. Wayne State (53), Minot State (47), Southwest Minnesota State (31) and St. Cloud State (27) rounded out teams in the poll.
Coffee, a junior from Hinton, Iowa (Hinton HS), was listed as Wayne State’s Track Athlete to Watch after finishing eighth last season at the NSIC Championships in the indoor pentathlon scoring 3,230 points. She was sixth in the event as a freshman in the 2023 indoor season.
Schwarzrock, a junior thrower from Gibbon, Minnesota (Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop HS), is tabbed Wayne State’s Field Athlete to Watch this year after placing in two events at last year’s NSIC Indoor Championships. She earned All-NSIC honors taking third in the weight throw at 57’ 7 ½” and was seventh in the shot put at 42’ ¾”.
During the men’s preseason poll, the 13-time defending NSIC champion Minnesota State-Mankato was a unanimous selection with 10 first-place votes and 100 points. Augustana was next in second with the other first-place vote (coaches cannot vote for own team) and 90 points.
MSU Moorhead (73), Northern State (69) and Minnesota Duluth (61) wrap up the top five teams.
The University of Mary was sixth with 58 points followed by Concordia-St. Paul (48), Sioux Falls (43), Wayne State (34), Minot State (19) and Southwest Minnesota State (10) closing out the coaches’ poll.
Dreyer, a graduate of IKM High School in Manning, Iowa, was listed as Wayne State’s Track Athlete to Watch this season. He was the top runner this fall for Wildcat cross country in five of six meets and earned a 12th place finish in the 1,000-meter run at last year’s NSIC Indoor Championships.
Mallory, a junior thrower from Norfolk (Norfolk HS), was tabbed as Wayne State’s Field Athlete to Watch after placing sixth last year in the shot put (51’ 11 3/4”) at the NSIC Indoor Championships.
