Moorhead, Minn. – After compiling 31 points on the opening day of competition at the 2012 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships being held at the Irv Christenson Track on the campus of Concordia College, the Gustavus men’s track and field team sits in fourth place.
After a strong first day, Gustavus is set up for a big day tomorrow to close out the championships.
Leading the way for the Gusties was sophomore Blair Riegel (Lakeville, Minn.). Riegel recorded one win on the day while also turning in several solid marks in preliminary races. Riegel earned the Gusties 10 points by successfully defending his title and winning the long jump after registering a leap of 22-feet 10.50-inches.
Riegel will also look to score podium points in both the 100 and 200-meter dash races, where his is also among the top sprinters. In tomorrow’s final of the 100-meter dash, Riegel will run in lane three with a preliminary time of 11.12, while teammates Matt Dvorak (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) and Phillip Butler (St. Paul, Minn.) will run in lanes seven (11.01) and eight (11.17), respectively.
The group of Dvorak, Butler, Kendrick Hall (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn.), and Riegel will head into tomorrow’s final of the 4×100-meter dash as the team to beat, crossing the finish line in 42.26 this afternoon.
Also gathering big points in the field events was junior Ryan Ness (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.). Following a throw of 153-0 in the preliminaries, Ness registered a toss of 166-11 in the finals to finish in second place.
Staying in the realm of field events, Ryan Obele (So. Le Sueur, Minn.) placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 45-5.75, and Naga Rumicho (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) finished ninth in the high jump after clearing 6-2.
Going into the MIAC Championships, senior Steve Groskreutz was the one to beat in the two hurdle events. The senior did not disappoint when it came to the show. Groskreutz crossed the finish line the fastest in both the 110 and 400-meter hurdles, going 14.97 (the only sub-15.00 mark of the field) in the 110-meter and 53.70 in the 400.
The Gusties will also look for points from the 800-meter run, where Eric Jorgenson (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) and Tanner Davenport (So., Ham Lake, Minn.) qualified for the finals and will be running in lanes sixth (1:57.04) and seventh (2:00.33), respectively.
Other top performers included the back-to-back finish of Mark Bartley (Sr., Blue Earth, Minn.) and Adam Lund (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.) in the 1,000-meter run. Bartley ran a 32:43.17 and Lund ran a 32:49.71. Rounding out the day was the fifth place finish of the 4×800-meter relay team that consisted of Davenport, Anders Bowman (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.), Kevin Chan (Fr., Eagan, Minn.), and Jorgenson. The group finished fifth with a time of 7:49.31.
Leading the pack after day one is St. Thomas with 77 points. Hamline is in second with 43 points, and Saint John’s is in third with 36 points.
Saturday’s action starts with field events at 11:30 a.m., and running events kick off at 1 p.m. with the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The final event of the day – the 4×400-meter relay – will start at 5 p.m. with the women’s race first and the men’s race second. A short awards ceremony to honor the team champions will follow the conclusion of the meet.
The MIAC has set up a home page for the 2012 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, including entries, heat sheets, links to live scoring and other meet information, and it will be updated throughout the weekend with results and recaps. Concordia’s sports information department also has a home page for the event, with terrific updates, photo galleries and more, and it will also be updated frequently throughout the meet.