St. Paul – The Gustavus women’s track and field is currently in a three-way tie for fourth place after scoring 22 points on a gorgeous opening day of the 2013 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Leading the way and jumping out to a big lead was Concordia who scored 71 points. St. Olaf is in second place with 36 points, while Carleton rounds out the top three in third with 24 points.
Headlining Gustavus’s top performers on day one was senior Lauren Rothschiller (Chaska, Minn.) who earned All-Conference distinction after placing third in the long jump. Ranked 11th in the event entering the weekend, Rothschiller recorded a season-best leap of 17-feet 8.25-inches to finish third.
Also in the field events, Gustavus names filled up the top nine spots in the shot put. Rookie Hayley Solheim (Crookston, Minn.) led the group with a fourth place performance after registering a toss of 42-feet 0.5-inches. Sarah Swanson (Fy., Fairbanks, Alaska) was next in line with an eighth place throw of 39-feet 11.25-inches, and Emily Ford (So., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) came in behind her in ninth with a toss of 39-feet 9.75-inches.
Rounding out Gustavus’s top finishers in the field events was sophomore Rachel Colter (Eagan, Minn.) with a fifth place showing in the javelin after a throw of 111-feet 11-inches.
Senior Beth Hauer (Little Falls, Minn.) led the way for the Gusties on the track with a fifth place run in the 10,000-meter after crossing the finish line in 37:56.51
The 4×800-meter relay also scored Gustavus points on the track with a seventh place finish in 9:36.94. Making up the relay was Jenny Hendricks (Sr., New Prague, Minn.), Courtney Branch (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.), Lyndsi Schwichtenberg (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.), and Amanda Iverson (Sr., Waconia, Minn.).
Gustie track competitors poised to make a run and score points in the finals on Saturday include Caitlin Fermoyle (So., Mendota Heights, Minn.), Amanda Iverson, and the 4×100-meter relay made up of Hana Fischer (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.), Haley Kemper (So., Prior Lake, Minn.), Leah Brossoit (Jr. Rochester, Minn.), and Kaitlin Bembenek (So., Prior Lake, Minn.). Fermoyle ran a 4:55.62 in the 1,500-meter run, Iverson went 2:18.62 in the 800-meter run, and the 4×100-meter relay ran a 50.30.
The 2013 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will conclude Saturday, May 11. Saturday’s action will start with the National Anthem at 11:50 a.m. The day two field events start at 12:00 p.m. and the track events will begin at 1:00 p.m. The full schedule of events is available online.
Saturday’s final event begins at 4:35 p.m., and there will be a short awards ceremony following the conclusion of the meet to honor both team champions. The top three individuals in each event and the first-place relay team will automatically earn All-Conference honors, and the fourth- through sixth-place finishers in each open event and second- through sixth-place relay teams will all be named All-Conference Honorable Mention.
The MIAC has a Web page dedicated to the event, and complete results, recaps, and multimedia coverage of the championships will be available on that site throughout the event. There will be live results available for all events courtesy of Apple Raceberry Jam and fans can also find entries and heat sheets on the MIAC’s event page as they become available.