The Gustavus women’s track and field team is set to compete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Macalester College will host the conference meet on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 in St. Paul, Minn.
Gustavus holds four of the top ten spots in the pole vault and hope to secure valuable points in the event. Senior Kristi Schneider (Hastings, Minn.), the 2005 MIAC Indoor Pole Vault Champion, is seeded number one clearing a height of 11-5.75 this spring. Schneider has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships and is seeded 21st in Division III.
First-year Shanna Dawson (Fairmont, Minn.) is seeded second with a season best of 11-3.75, which is a NCAA provisional qualifying height. Sophomore Janna Castellano (Blaine, Minn.) has also recorded a NCAA provisional qualifying height of 10-11.75 and is seeded fifth in the MIAC. First-year Alicia Bloomquist (Owatonna, Minn.) cleared a height of 10-6 and is seeded ninth overall.
The Gusties will look to senior Nichole Petersen (Marshall, Minn.), sophomore Hailey Harren (Cold Spring, Minn.) and junior Kourtney Joyce (Wadena, Minn.) to score important points in the distance events. Nichole Petersen is seeded in the top five of two events. The senior is seeded second in the 10,000-meter run with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 37:03.46, which is also a school record. She is seeded third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:16.20.
Hailey Harren is also seeded in the top five of the 10,000 and 5,000-meter run. Harren is seeded fourth in the 10,000 with a time of 37:58.68 and fourth in the 5,000 with a time of 18:21.52.
Kourtney Joyce has recorded the second fastest time in the MIAC this spring in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Joyce has recorded a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 11:20.80 and is ranked 25th in the Division III heading into the conference meet.
The conference meet will begin on Friday, May 13 at 4:00 p.m. with field events. The first running event will begin at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, May 14 the field events will begin at 4:00 p.m. and the running events will begin at 5:15 p.m.