Northfield, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s outdoor track and field team sits in fifth place with 37 points following the opening day of the 2014 MIAC Championships being held this weekend at the Ade Christenson Track and Field Complex on the campus of St. Olaf College. Junior thrower Elizabeth Weiers (Jr., Le Center, Minn.) highlighted the day’s events with a gold medal performance in the hammer throw. The Gusties recorded a total of three all-conference performances and eight top 10 finishes on day one.
The University of St. Thomas is in first place with 73 points, Carleton College sits in second with 48 points, and Hamline University ranks third with 39 points.
With a season-best toss of 168-feet 7-inches, Elizabeth Weiers became Gustavus’s first MIAC champion in the hammer throw since Tona Schmidtke won the title in 2001. The Le Center, Minnesota product claimed gold in record-breaking fashion, topping her own school-record toss of 166-feet 10-inches set earlier this season at the Carleton Relays on April 19.
Also earning all-conference accolades in the field events was Kelsey Harms (So., Apple Valley, Minn.) and Nevada Wendlandt (Sr., Maplewood, Minn.). Harms finished runner-up in the pole vault after clearing the bar at 11-feet 0.25-inches. Wendlandt finished right behind Harms in the same event, going over the bar at 10-feet 6.25-inches for a third place finish. Wendlandt also registered a sixth place finish in the high jump with a height of 5-feet 0.5-inches.
Rounding out the team’s top field finishers was Jill Kalis (Jr., Waseca, Minn.) who placed seventh in the discus (124’ 1”), and Sarah Swanson (So. Fairbanks, Alaska) who took ninth in the hammer throw (140’ 8”).
Leading the way on the track was Marit Sonnesyn (So., Plymouth, Minn.) and Lauren Shurson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.). Both Sonnesyn and Shurson competed in the 10,000-meter, finishing fifth (38:22.93) and seventh (39:16.70), respectively.
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 (MEN – WOMEN) 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.