MOORHEAD — The 2026 MIAC indoor tournament witnessed the Cobber Woman taking center stage, winning their first MIAC Indoor Championship in nearly 3 decades.
Now, five athletes will be advancing to the NCAA indoor Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
Cobber Freshman Lauren Pearson turned the MIAC into her own personal clinic, taking first in both the high jump and the pentathlon (an event that contains five different events for each athlete.
“I was really not expecting this coming in. I’d never done a Pent (Pentathlon) obviously, so I don’t know, I came in just excited to have some fun” said Pearson.
The pentathlon is a group of five events, including the 60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, and the 800m run
Despite not having much experience in the event, Pearson went on to place 1st in the 55-meter hurdles, 2nd in high jump with 1.60m. And 3rd in the 800 meter run.
As it happens, Pearson broke two school records. Her 55-meter hurdle of 8.46 beat a long-time record held by Sara Grineski from 2000 with 8.49. Pearson also managed to score 3,472 points after winning the Pentathlon, beating Kaari Jensen’s 3,352 from 2013.
“Kaari and Sarah are two of the best I ever coached, you know.” said women’s track and field coach Marvin Roeske. “I mean, here’s Lauren as a little freshman, and she’s right there with two legends. In fact, Kaari Jensen messaged to say congratulations.”
The Distance Medley Relay team (DMR) was yet another contributor to the overall cobber success, finishing 1st with a time of 12:27.98. The team consisted of Nygaard, Kelyn Henry-Perlich, (So. Hastings, Neb.), Londyn Ames, (Jr. Williston, N.D.), and Josie Brown (Fr. Saco, Mont.)
Despite the standout performances from Pearson, Kyla Nygaard (Sr. Maple Grove, Minn.) & the 4×4 team, Coach Roeske attributed their conference to a “Classic example of total team effort”.
“When teams win championships they usually win more than three events,
Also demonstrating the total team effort and the balance in how we got our points.” said Roeske.
After the tournament Roeske was awarded MIAC Indoor Coach of the year, his first, despite holding five coaching awards in the outdoor.
“It’s a staff award. It’s a team award. If you win a championship, those things kind of go with it.” said Roeske “it’s all about the kids, and they’re happy when their coach wins that but, you know, we got great assistant coaches and, of course, the girls did the job, it’s all about them.”
A total of 11 Cobbers were named All-Conference, with 11 All-Conference Honorable Mentions.
“There were 11 seventh and eighth places that gained our team only one or two points but certainly added up and made the difference for us.” Roeske added.
After the tournament, Lauren Pearson was named Rookie of the Year, an award the conference introduced just three years ago, also making her the first Cobber to win it.
Just like her coach, Pearson feels she owes a large percentage of her accomplishment to her teammates.
“Because I, you know, haven’t done this very much, I relied heavily on my teammates, they’re the people that keep me going, and then yelling and all the cheering at me helps so much.” Pearson said.
Among the Cobbers to advance to the NCAA championship was the 4×400 relay team consisting of Kyla Nygaard (Sr. Maple Grove, Minn.), Emily Rengo (Sr. Esko, Minn.), Josie Brown (Fr. Saco, Mont.) and Emma Warner (So. McGregor, Minn.).
The relay team attended the Wartburg qualifier tournament on Mar. 7th, emerging with 3rd place, breaking the record they set just last year with 3:50.42.
Nygaard, who is also advancing in the 800m., broke a school record from 2001 with her time of 2:12.66.
“Over the last like three and a half years, we’ve been working so hard together as a team, and individually” said Nygaard “ so even though it still feels like Unreal. I’m just like, yeah, we were meant to be here.”
