Northfield, Minn. – Thanks a strong second day, the Gustavus Adolphus men’s outdoor track and field climbed five spots into a fifth place standing at the 2014 MIAC Championships with two-day total of 66.5 points. The Gusties recorded three all-conference performances and 15 top eight finishes that added up to 59.5 points on the final day of competition. This season’s MIAC Championships were held at the Ade Christenson Track and Field Complex on the campus of St. Olaf College.
The University of St. Thomas won the 2014 MIAC Championship with 172.5 points. St. Olaf College finished second with 159 points, and Hamline University rounded out the top three in third with 110 points.
Turning in Gustavus’s top individual performance of the day was senior Naga Rumicho (Minneapolis, Minn.) who took home all-conference accolades in the high jump after going over the bar at a season-best height of 6-feet 7-inches.
Also in the jumps, Jeffrey Dubose (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) and Derek Huntley (Fr., Maplewood, Minn.) finished back-to-back in the pole vault. Dubose cleared the bar at 14-feet 8-inches for a fourth place finish, and Huntley went over at 14-feet 2-inches for a fifth place finish. Blair Riegel (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) rounded out the group with a sixth place effort in the triple jump (43’ 11.25”).
Gustavus’s top thrower of day two was senior Ryan Obele (Le Sueur, Minn.). Obele earned all-conference distinction for a third place finish in the hammer throw (170’ 1”) and also added a fifth place performance in the discus (146’ 3). A total of three Gusties found themselves inside the top eight in the hammer throw as Jesse Scheiterlein (Jr., Sartell, Minn.) finished fifth (161’), and Pat Tracy (Sr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) took sixth (154’ 9”).
Jordan Lovestrand (Fr., Bloomington, Minn.) posted the team’s top finish on the track. The rookie ran a 15.61 in the 110-meter hurdles for a third place finish and all-conference accolades. Matt Flotterud (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.61), and Scott Williams (Jr., Maple Grove, Minn.) came in eighth (16.14). Williams also contributed an eighth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (56.445).
Other top Gustavus performers on the track included Phillip Butler (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.), Thomas Knobbe (Fr., West Des Moines, Minn.), and Tanner Davenport (Sr., Ham Lake, Minn.). Butler placed fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.17), Knobbe took sixth in the steeplechase (9:46.95), and Davenport finished eighth in the 1,500-meter run (4:03.60).
There was a brief awards ceremony Saturday to honor both the men’s and women’s 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. Complete outdoor track awards will be voted on by coaches and announced in the coming week.