St. Paul – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s outdoor track and field team collected 18 points to finish day one of the MIAC Championships in sixth place. Concordia College is the day one leader with 59 points, Carleton College ranks second with 39 points, and the College of Saint Benedict sits in third with 27 points. The 2015 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships are being held over the weekend on the campus of Macalester College.
Gustavus’s day was highlighted by the distance run of senior Caitlin Fermoyle (Mendota Heights, Minn.). Fermoyle crossed the finish line in a season-best 37:22.51 to place second in the 10,000-meter run. She was beaten by only Mollie Gilberg of Bethel who crossed ahead of her in 37:16.08. Fermoyle’s time today was a significant improvement on her previous best run of 37:38.40 recorded April 22.
Marit Sonnesyn (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) added depth to the 10,000-meter run with a sixth place finish in 38:19.12.
In the field events, Sarah Swanson (Jr., Fairbanks, Alaska) led the way in the throws, while Megan Eckberg (Fy., Gaylord, Minn.) paced the Gusties in the jumps. Swanson threw the shot 42-feet 2.75-inches to place fifth, and Eckberg recorded a distance of 16-feet 7-inches in the long jump to finish seventh.
FROM THE MIAC
The 2015 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships conclude Saturday, with field events beginning 2 p.m. and track to follow at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final event begins at 6:40 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 4th-through-6th place finishers in each open event and 2nd-through-6th place relay teams will all be named All-Conference Honorable Mention.
The MIAC has a home page dedicated to the 2015 Outdoor Championships, complete with venue and admission information, the event schedule, entries, heat sheets and links to follow the results live. Results, recaps, and multimedia coverage of the championships will be available throughout the event. There will be live results available for all events courtesy of Apple Raceberry Jam, and Macalester will also team up with the Minnesota Sports Broadcast Network to offer a live video webcast of the meet as well. Fans can connect to the conference throughout the meet on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube using the hashtag #MIACOTF.
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. The MIAC would like to thank Macalester College and their coaches and staff for their efforts to host the event.