The Gustavus men’s indoor track and field team picked up 16 top-three finishes, including five wins, at Friday’s Pre-MIAC Invitational hosted by Carleton in Northfield. For many league schools like Gustavus, the meet served as the final competition before next weekend’s Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, also hosted by Carleton.
Gustavus picked up four first place finishes in the running events, with Ryan Brownell (Fr., Hibbing, Minn.) taking the win in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:00.53, finishing ahead of teammates John Gamble (Fr., Appleton, Wis.) and Brady Rutman (Sr., Nisswa, Minn.) in fourth and fifth, respectively. Jack Henkemeyer (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) added a victory in the 55 meter dash with a run of 6.60 seconds. Chad Arlt (St. Michael, Minn.) improved on his second-place qualifying time of 6.87 seconds with a 6.84 second run in the finals, but finished fourth. Tanner Miest (Jr., New London, Minn.) outhurdled teammated Tyler Geyen (Watertown, Minn.) to the title in the 55 meter hurdles, edging the freshman at the line by 0.06 seconds. Geyen also added a fourth-place effort in the 200 meter dash, with a sprint of 24.32 seconds.
Dan Westlund (Sr., Northfield, Minn.) and Ben Treichel (So., Webster, Wis.) added second place finishes in the 3-kilometer and 400 meter dash, respectively, while the 4×200 meter relay team captured the win in 1:32.39, 0.20 seconds ahead of second-place Carleton.
The Gusties fared well in the field events, taking a pair of titles. Freshman John Retka (Shoreview, Minn.), who picked up a win in the long jump with a leap of 21-2 1/2 and finished second in the triple jump with a hop, skip and a jump of 42-9 3/4. Jered Hokenson (Watertown, Minn.) took the title in the high jump with a leap of 6-3 1/4, two inches better than teammate Chad Wilshusen (Fr., Fremont, Neb.), who finished second, and four inches better than Gustavus senior Mike Schmidt (Rogers, Minn.), who added a tie for fourth.
Gustavus also picked up three of the top four finishes in the shot put. Joe Atkinson (Sr., Lake Crystal, Minn.) led the group of Gusties with a second-place throw of 45-0 1/4, while Luke Weyandt (Jr., Ham Lake, Minn.) and Darin Mays (Sr., Minnesota Lake, Minn.) finished third and fourth with throws of 44-4 and 42-6 1/4, respectively. Drew Hood (So., Mankato, Minn.) finished third in the pole vault with an effort of 14-5 1/2, while Matt Fordyce (Sr., Atwater, Minn.) finished fourth with a leap of 13-5 3/4. Andy Klaers (Jr., Delano, Minn.) also picked up a third-place finish in the weight throw with a toss of 48-0 1/2 after placing second in his preliminary flight.
The Gusties will next be in competition at next weekend’s MIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships with the pentathlon competition taking place Thursday, March 2. Regular competition will take place Friday-Saturday, March 3-4 at the Recreational Center on the campus of Carleton College in Northfield.