SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Minot State senior DelRay Audet, junior Samantha Huether and sophomore Kira Gilbreath helped the Beavers earn six place winners on Saturday at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference outdoor track and field championships.

The trio of individuals on the podium pushed MSU’s total to six individual place winners over the two days and, with three of the four relays entered, gave Minot State nine overall.

“It was a good meet for us overall,” MSU coach Stu Melby said. “We had some good performances. Of the 55 entries, we had 30 that exceded their heat-sheet mark coming in and another eight maintained it. That’s a good indication that we did pretty well at the meet. We will continue to work hard to move up in the conference.”

Like in Friday’s day 1 competition, MSU throwers set an early tone as Gilbreath took eighth in the women’s shot put, earning her placing heave of 12.41 meters on her last throw.

“It was awesome yesterday to have (sophomore) Tanner (Gust) move so far up and having (freshman) Amber (Hunsaker) place as a freshman. It was very motivating for all of us,” Gilbreath said. “I felt pretty good, it was my best outdoor series of the year.”

Gilbreath wasn’t sure she was going to make it through to finals after her preliminary throws and then was on the outside looking in, but finished with a strong final throw.

“It’s amazing to finish with your best throw. It’s a great feeling,” she said. “All throwers seem to think their worst one is the one that goes the furthest. That’s what it was for me. I didn’t think it felt very good at all, but once it hit, I thought it might have a chance. I am a passive person overall, really laid back, so I’ve been working on being aggressive and attack it.”

Huether matched Gilbreath’s rise with a solid finish in the steeplechase as she hung with a pack towards the front much of the way. After settling with the group that ranged from about fourth to ninth for a good portion of the event, she surged to seventh for a season-best time of 11 minutes, 23.17 seconds.

“I wanted to stay in the pack as much as possible and work together in the race,” he said. “It was my season-best time, so I felt pretty good overall with the race. I redshirted in the outdoor last year, so I haven’t run it much, just my freshman season and so far this year, but I feel pretty comfortable with it. The hurdles come a little easier for me, but the running in between is what I have worked on. I wanted to be under 6 in the first mile and just went from there.”

While points in both events might not have been expected, the Beavers were much more comfortable with Audet coming into the finals of the 400-meter hurdles. She didn’t disappoint. Audet capped her solid career at MSU with a 1:05.40, whcih was good enough for fifth.

“I’ve been thinking about my career a little this week and I don’t know what exactly to say about it. It went by too fast and I would do it all over again if I had the chance,” she said. “I am very happy with how I’ve progressed and gotten stronger in this event. It was a fun career.

“I was happy with my lane assignment (lane 2) as I usually come out a little slow. This way, to see the race and people in front of me, I had something to tell my body to get going.”

Audet also helped the Beavers earn a point in the 4×100 relay as she joined freshman Erin Winterton, junior Chloe Melton and senior Dijah Silva to rake eighth with a 49.71. The team thought they were just outside of the podium, but two teams were disqualified to move the Beavers into the top 8.

Relays were the focus for MSU’s men’s team on Saturday as both placed to cap the weekend off. Senior Farai Madungwe and junior Tyler Bates were members of both teams with Madungwe featured as the anchor on both in his final meet of his career. The duo was joined by senior Lucas Leitner and freshman Daniel Daffinrud in the 4×100 to finish sixth with a 42.82. Freshman Chiti Nkhuwa and junior Dylan Harvey joined Madungwe and Bates in the 4×400 as the team finished eighth with a time of 3:25.67

“Farai has been really consistent for us in both relays over the years. He was good again today in the anchor of both,” Melby said. “This is the seventh relay in his career he has been on that has placed at the conference meet. Tyler has been on four placing relays for us, usually in the lead in the 4×400. Both guys did a good job leading the relays today.”

MSU women’s team finished 12th overall with 13 points, while the men were 12th as well with 8.5 points. Minnesota State-Mankato swept the team titles at the championships scoring 152.3 in the women’s title totals 166.5 in the men’s.

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