ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus track and field teams are set to participate in the Ted Nelson Classic, hosted by the Minnesota State University, Mankato, on Saturday at the Myers Fieldhouse. Participating teams include Augustana, Carleton, Concordia, Gustavus, Iowa Central, Mary, Minnesota State, Minot State, Sioux Falls, South Dakota State, Southwest State, St. Cloud State, St. Olaf and UW-La Crosse. Field events begin at 11 a.m. and track events begin at 11:30 a.m.
Last Friday the Gusties kicked off the indoor season at the St. Olaf Invite. Both the men and women took second place. The Gustie men took first place in six events. Sean O’Connell (Jr., St. Peter, Minn.) won the 60-meter dash, crossing the line in 7.30; the 4×200-meter relay of Sam ReMine (Jr., Mantorville, Minn.), Jack Blaney (Fy., Lake Elmo, Minn.), Ed ReMine (Jr., Mantorville, Minn.) and O’Connell took first in 1:34.29; Thomas Knobbe (Jr., Decorah, Iowa) won the one-mile run in 4:23.3; Knobbe also took first in the 3000-meter run at 9:04.74; Bennet Woltjer (Sr., Kandiohi, Minn.) won the high jump with a height of 1.78 meters; and David Hoien (Jr., Annandale, Minn.) posted the top pole vault mark, clearing 4.47 meters.
On the women’s side, five events claimed first place, including the 4×200-meter relay team of Jalia Anderson (Fy., Plymouth, Minn.), Tess Olinger (Fy., Decorah, Iowa), Maddison Ackiss (Jr., Fairbanks, Alaska) and Kaitlin Bembenek (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) finished in 1:53.71; Sadie Novak-Klug (So., Waseca, Minn.) crossed the one-mile finish line in 5:33.61; Sarah Swanson tossed the weight throw a distance of 14.18 meters and the shot put 13.17 meters; and Jalia Anderson cleared a height of 3.11 meters in the pole vault. For taking first place in both the shot put and weight throw, Swanson was named MIAC Women’s Indoor Field Athlete-of-the-Week. Swanson’s shot put distance of 43-2.5 ranks No. 1 in the MIAC this season and 13th in all of Division III.