The Gustavus Adolphus men’s indoor track and field team won three events and picked up a total of 12 top-five finishes en route to a third-place finish at the Ted Nelson Classic hosted by Minnesota State University, Mankato. Tyler Geyen (So., Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) won the 60-meter hurdles (8.52 seconds), Josh Sorenson (Sr., Hanska, Minn./Madelia) won the pole vault (15-3 1/2), and Andy Klaers (Jr., Loretto, Minn./Delano) won the weight throw (51-7). North Dakota edged MSU, Mankato for the team title 213.5-213, followed by Gustavus with 98.5 points and Augustana (S.D.) with 45.
Klaers was the only Gustie to record a pair of top-five finishes, also placing third in the shot put with an effort of 44-5 1/2, while Drew Hood (Jr., Mankato, Minn./West) gave the Gusties a 1-2 finish in the pole vault, finishing tied for second after clearing 14-9 1/2. Hood then added a sixth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 19-9. The other Gustavus runner-up finish came in the 4×400-meter relay, where the team of Cole Carlson (Fr., Mora, Minn.), Geyen, Dan Marti (Sr., Sleepy Eye, Minn./Sleepy Eye), and Ben Treichel (Jr., Webster, Wis.) finished with a time of 3:24.97, just of the winning time of 3:24.04 set by the University of North Dakota.
Treichel finished third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.62, just ahead of Carlson in fourth, who stopped the clock with a time of 52.05. Treichel also finished sixth in the 200 with a 23.72 clocking, while Marti added a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter dash (7.34).
The final third place finish for the Gusties came from Alex Zupan (Sr., Monona, Wis./Monona Grove) in the 1000-meter run, where the senior stopped the clock with a time of 2:32.30, breaking his own school record in the event by nearly one second. Gustavus also received fifth place finishes from Jake Fourre (Fr., Rogers, Minn./Buffalo) in the 800-meter run (1:58.49), Finn Kuusisto (Sr., Almelund, Minn./Chisago Lakes) in the 5000-meter run (17:11.32), and John Retka (So., Shoreview, Minn./Totino-Grace) in the triple jump (40-1/2).
Gustavus will return to competition Saturday, Feb. 17 at the St. Olaf Tostrud Classic in Northfield.