St. Paul – The Gustavus women’s track and field team placed sixth in a field of 12 teams at the 2013 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships on Saturday afternoon at the University of St. Thomas. St. Thomas finished first to take the conference title with a total of 140.5 team points. The Gusties finished with 81.5 team points.
Highlighting the second day of competition for the Gusties was Ally Voss (Sr., Wausau, Wis.). Voss successfully defended her 2012 title by winning the pole vault competition after clearing 12-feet 5.5-inches to break the former MIAC meet record held by St. Thomas’s Karoline Bastiaens. Bastiaens’ record set in 2003 was 12-feet 5.25-inches. With her gold medal performance, Voss becomes the first Gustie pole vaulter to earn All-Conference honors in all four years of competition. She is also the school’s second two-time MIAC Champion in the event, as Janna Castellano took first in 2005 and 2007.
Also taking home All-Conference honors in the field events was Elizabeth Weiers (So, Le Center, Minn.) and Lauren Rothschiller (Sr., Chaska, Minn.). Weiers finished runner-up in the hammer throw after posting a toss of 153-feet 11-inches. Rothschiller tallied her second All-MIAC honor of the weekend with a third place showing in the triple jump after leaping 36-feet 11-inches.
Also in the field events, Nevada Wendlandt (Jr., Maplewood, Minn.) added a fourth place finish in high jump after going over the bar at 5-feet 2.5-inches. In the discus, Jill Kalis (So., Waseca, Minn.) finished eighth with a throw of 119-feet 10-inches, while Kara Helgeson (Fy., Ortonville, Minn.) took ninth with a toss of 116-feet 10-inches.
It was senior Erica Hett (Burnsville, Minn.) leading the Gusties on the track. Hett came in runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after crossing the finish line in 11:19.22.
Also on the track, senior Amanda Iverson (Waconia, Minn.) turned in a fifth place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.37. Caitlin Fermoyle (So, Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Beth Hauer (Sr., Little Falls, Minn.) provided the Gusties with seventh place showings – Fermoyle in the 1,500-meter run (4:55.38) and Hauer in the 5,000-meter run (18:36.03).
The top three individuals in each event and the first-place relay team automatically earned 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. Top individual honors will be announced later this week.