In its first outdoor competition on American soil, the Gustavus women’s track and field team captured fourth place at the Wartburg Select Meet Saturday in Waverly, Iowa. Host Wartburg took home the team title by 9.5 points over UW-La Crosse, 180-170.5. Central College finished third with 93.5 points followed by Gustavus with 66.5 points.
The Gusties posted a number of top-eight finishes led by Kourtney Joyce (Sr., Wadena, Minn.), who finished second in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 10:59.94. Val Berquam (Jr., Kenyon, Minn.) finished sixth, around one minute behind Joyce (11:56.86).
McKenzie Burgess (Fy., Welcome, Minn.) posted the best Gustavus finish in the sprints, finishing eighth in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:01.60. Ashley Cronen (Sr., Kandiyohi, Minn.) and Samantha Madsen (Fy., Morgan, Minn.) each picked up points in the 800-meter run. Cronen finished fourth with a time of 2:19.87, while Madsen was seventh in a 2:23.02 clocking.
Laura Edlund (So., Forest Lake, Minn.) added a seventh-place finish in the 5000-meter run (19:15.44) while the Gustavus 4×400-meter relay team finished fifth in a time of 4:07.30.
Gustavus picked up a number of points in the field events, led by Sari Lindeman (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.), Shanna Dawson (So., Fairmont, Minn.) and Kalee Schrupp (Sr., Becker, Minn.). Lindeman finished fourth in the triple jump (36-0.75) and sixth in the long jump (16-6.5), Dawson placed fifth in both the long jump (16-7.25) and pole vault (10-8.0). Schrupp added a sixth-place finish in the triple jump (34-2.0), an eighth-place finish in the high jump (4-9) and 11th in the long jump (15-1.25). Janna Castellano (Jr., Blaine, Minn.) finished seventh in the pole vault with a vault of 10 feet, 2 inches.
Lisa Brown (Fy., Lake Crystal, Minn.) registered the best finish for a Gustavus thrower, tossing the javelin 122 feet, 5 inches to finish fourth. Vicky Peterson (So., Plymouth, Minn.) finished fifth in the shot put with a heave of 40 feet, 4.75 inches, while Ashley Clemen (Jr., Appleton, Minn.) added a fifth-place finish in the discus (125-8) and a 13th-place finish in the hammer throw (119-3).
Blythe Bittman (Sr., Fairmont, Minn.) competed in the heptathlon, finishing fourth with 3925 points, a mere 175 points shy of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark.