The Gustavus men’s track and field team captured a total of 16 top-eight finishes at Saturday’s Carleton Relays, finishing fifth in the 18-team field with 79 points. St. Thomas won the meet with 130 points, edging out Saint John’s (125), Minnesota-Duluth (121) and Minnesota State, Mankato (117). Tanner Miest won the 110-meter hurdles while John Retka captured the long jump title.
Miest (Jr., New London, Minn.) continued his winning ways in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing first for the third consecutive week. His time of 14.86 seconds was just 0.01 slower than the personal season-best and NCAA provisional mark he set two weeks ago. Tyler Geyen (Fr., Watertown, Minn.) finished fifth in a time of 15.68 seconds.
Aside from Miest and Geyen, sophomore Ben Treichel (Webster, Wis.) was the only Gustie sprinters to place in the top ten, finishing fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.16 seconds. Among middle- and long-distance runners, Dan Foley (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn.) finished fifth in the 10000-meter run with a time of 33:10.12 and senior Dan Westlund (Northfield, Minn.) placed fifth in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a 10:06.09 clocking. Freshman Ryan Brownell (Hibbing, Minn.) added a ninth-place finish in the 800-meter run (1:59.77).
Retka (Fr., Shoreview, Minn.) won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 11 inches — nearly two feet ahead of teammate Drew Hood (So., Mankato, Minn.), who finished seventh with a leap of 20 feet,