St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s and women’s track and field teams are set to cap the 2014 season at the MIAC Outdoor Championships on Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10. The 2014 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held at the Ade Christenson Track and Field Complex located on the campus of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Last season, the Gustavus men’s team finished seventh with 72.5 points, while the women’s squad took sixth with 81.5 points.
Heading into the weekend, the Gusties will look to their hurdlers to score big points on the track. In the 110-meter hurdles, Gustavus has four individuals ranked inside the top 10, as Cameron Clause (Sr., Mankato, Minn.) ranks fourth (15.55), Jordan Lovestrand (Fr., Bloomington, Minn.) ranks seventh (15.80), Scott Williams (Jr., Maple Grove, Minn.) ranks eighth (15.97), and Matt Flotterud (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) ranks ninth (15.98). In the 400-meter hurdles, Lovestrand sits fourth (55.28) and Williams ranks sixth (56.54).
Phillip Butler (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) rounds out Gustavus’s top track athletes with a top 10 ranking in the 100-meter dash where he will be seeded fifth with a time of 10.97.
In the field events, Cameron Clause is poised to make a push at all-conference honors in both the pole vault and the long jump. The senior ranks first in the pole vault with a height of 15-feet 8.25-inches and third in the long jump with a distance of 21-feet 11.75-inches.
Blair Riegel (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) will add depth in the jumps, ranking fifth in the triple jump (43’ 10”) and seventh in the long jump (21’ 7.5”). The team’s top high jumper is Naga Rumicho (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) who ranks third with a height of 6-feet 6-inches. Jeffrey Dubose (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) has gone over the pole vault bar at 15-feet so far this year, ranking him fifth.
The Black and Gold’s top thrower heading into the conference meet is Ryan Obele (Sr., Le Sueur, Minn.) who sits in a position to take home all-conference accolades in a pair of events. Obele has recorded the second-best throw in the discus at 147-feet 9-inches and also ranks third in the hammer throw with a toss of 164-feet 9-inches.
Also in the throws, Nick Carlson (Jr., Fridley, Minn.) ranks fifth in the javelin (181’), Alex Logan (So., Chaska, Minn.) ranks ninth in the discus (138’ 1”), Pat Tracy (Sr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) ranks ninth in the hammer (152’ 5”), and Jesse Scheiterlein (Jr., Sartell, Minn.) ranks 10th in the hammer (152’ 4”).
It is in the throwing events that the Gustie women will likely do their most damage. In the hammer throw, Elizabeth Weiers (Jr., Le Center, Minn.) is the top-ranked competitor with a school-record toss of 166-feet 10-inches, which she recorded at the Carleton Relays on April 19. Also in the hammer, Sarah Swanson (So., Fairbanks, Alaska) ranks ninth with a mark of 142-feet 4-inches.
In the shot put, the Gusties have three individuals with a top 10 ranking. Swanson ranks fifth (42’ 6.25”), Hayley Solheim (So., Crookston, Minn.) ranks ninth (40’ 0.5”), and Rachel Colter (Jr., North St. Paul, Minn.) ranks 10th (39’ 10”). Colter has also posted the sixth-ranked throw in the javelin at 117-feet 8-inches.
Jill Kalis (Jr., Waseca, Minn.) rounds out the squad’s top throwers and will look to score in the discus where she ranks seventh (129’ 8”).
Other top field competitors include Nevada Wendlandt (Sr., Maplewood, Minn.), Anna McDevitt (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.), and Kelsey Harms (So., Apple Valley, Minn.). Wendlandt ranks third in the pole vault (10’ 10.75”) and ninth in the high jump (5’ 1.25”), McDevitt sits fourth in the triple jump (34’ 9.75”), and Harms ranks fifth in the pole vault (10’ 6”).
The distance races are where the Gustie women have their best chance at scoring points in the track events. Marit Sonnesyn (So., Plymouth, Minn.) leads the team with a pair of top ten rankings, sitting fourth in the 10,000-meter run (37:51.75) and fifth in the 5,000-meter run (18:19.87). Also in the 10,000-meter run, Lauren Shurson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.) ranks eighth (39:05.28), and Rebecca Hare (Sr., Albany, Minn.) ranks ninth (39:12.61).
The 2014 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships began with last weekend’s multi-event competitions at Carleton. The full event will begin Friday at St. Olaf with field events beginning at 1 p.m. and track events starting at 1:30 p.m. Saturday’s action will start with field events at 12 p.m. and the track events will begin at 1 p.m.
The full schedule of events is available online. Saturday’s final event begins at 4:40 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. The entries for the meet (MEN – WOMEN) and heat sheets (MEN – WOMEN) are available on the MIAC’s web site as well.
Admission for the event is $7 for adults and $3 for students per day, with children ages 5 and under admitted free. MIAC passes will be honored.