BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its indoor track and field awards Thursday and Gustavus throw specialist Sarah Swanson (Sr., Fairbanks, Alaska) was named Women’s Field Athlete-of-the-Year. Swanson becomes the first Gustie to earn the award since Janey Helland in 2011.
Swanson qualified for the NCAA Championships on Saturday at Grinnell College after an impressive indoor season. The Fairbanks, Alaska native took home nine gold medals throughout the season between the shot put and weight throw. Swanson started the season with a pair of first place finishes in the shot and weight at the St. Olaf Invite on Jan. 29. For her performance, Swanson was named MIAC Field Athlete-of-the-Week. She also won both the shot and weight on Feb. 13 at Carleton’s Meet of the Hearts. On Feb. 20 at the CSB-SJU Invite, Swanson won the shot put and took second in the weight throw. Her shot put distance on Feb. 26 at the Macalester Kilt Classic set a personal record at 13.74 meters, which took first place. She also won the weight at the Kilt Classic with a toss of 15.18 meters. Swanson then became a dual event champion at the MIAC Championships on March 4-5. She won the weight throw with a personal-best 15.47 meters, followed the next day by a first place finish in the shot put at 13.37 meters.
Swanson is seeded 12th in the shot put headed into the NCAA Championships, which is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.