The Gustavus women’s indoor track and field team picked up wins in six events and set an arena record at Friday’s Pre-MIAC Invitational hosted by Carleton. For many schools, including Gustavus, the meet served as the final competition prior to next weekend’s Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, also hosted by Carleton. The Gustavus 4×200 meter relay picked the win in an arena record of 1:47.35.
Funto Okanla (So., St. Paul, Minn.) and Kelsey Becker (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) picked up a 1-2 finish in the 55 meter dash after each was the top qualifier in their preliminary heats. Okanla posted a time of 7.46 seconds in the final, while Becker finished in 7.66 seconds. Carlie Hanson (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.) added a win in the 600 meter dash in a time of 1:39.67, finishing five seconds ahead teammate Krista Cruse (Jr., Hastings, Minn.), who finished third in a time of 1:44.59. Mollie Lager (Sr., Robbinsdale, Minn.) took the mile title (5:21.85) by nearly three seconds over Bethel’s Nikki Umhoefer, while first-year Evelyn Ross (Iowa City, Iowa) finished third with a time of 5:25.10.
Ashley Cronen (Sr., Kandiyohi, Minn.) posted a second-place time in the 400 meter dash (60.29), while first-year Sam Madsen (Morgan, Minn.) finished second in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:25.88. Sarah Bernhardson (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Val Berquam (Jr., Kenyon, Minn.) also posted third and fourth place times in the 3000 meter run, running times of 10:42.29 and 11:10.19, respectively.
Sari Lindeman (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.) scored a win in the long jump with a leap of 16-9 1/4 and added a third-place finish in the triple jump with an effort of 35-7 1/4. Lindeman led Gusties to five of the top six positions in the long jump as Shanna Dawson (So., Fairmont, Minn.) finished second (16-1), McKenzie Burgess (Fy., Welcome, Minn.) landed in fourth (15-11) and Kalee Schrupp (Sr., Becker, Minn.) and Blythe Bittman (Sr., Fairmont, Minn.) leapt into fifth (15-4 3/4) and sixth (15-0 1/2), respectively.
Along with her runner-up effort in the long jump, Dawson finished second behind teammate Alicia Blomquist (So., Owatonna, Minn.) in the pole vault as both Gusties vaulted to a height of 10-3 1/2 and sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 33-0 1/4.
The Gusties will wrap up their indoor regular season next weekend at the MIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The meet will begin Thursday, March 2 with competition in the pentathlon. The meet begins in earnest Friday, March 3 and concludes the following day.