The Wayne State College women's indoor track and field team is picked to finish 11^th in the 2024-25 NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll announced Thursday morning by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota.  The Wildcats received 53 points in voting conducted by league coaches while juniors Anna Coffee and Olivia Schwarzrock were listed as Athletes to Watch in the NSIC this season.
            Minnesota State, who has won the last five NSIC women's indoor track and field 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 can not 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 10^th 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".
            Wayne State opens the 2025 indoor track and field season Friday afternoon at the SDSU Holiday Invite held in Brookings, South Dakota at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.