WINONA, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s track & field team competed in its outdoor season opener on Thursday at the Saint Mary’s University Dingels/Brueggen Open from the SMU Outdoor Athletic Complex and were headlined by a first place finish from Alex Wischnack (Jr., Norwood Young America, Minn.).
Wischnack turned in a career-best outdoor time in the 5,000-meter run, earning the top crown top finish for the Gusties with a time of 15:57.03, seven seconds ahead of the runner-up. Teammate Nick Kerbeshian, Fy., Plymouth, Minn.) was the runner-up at 16:04.09. Justin Friedrich (Sr., Chatfield, Minn.) also finished ninth at 17:12.98.
A trio of Gusties finished seventh through ninth in the 1,500-meter run. Ryley Sandberg (Sr., Polk City, Iowa), Bridger Pavelka (So., Minnetonka, Minn.), and Ben Madigan (Jr., Kohler, Wis.) finished at 4:16.89, 4:17.21, and 4:17.24, respectively.
Another top-10 finish for Gustavus came from Nelson Finne (Jr., Elgin, Minn.) in the high jump. Finne had a leap of 5-06.50 for seventh place.
Gustavus has two competitors this weekend taking part in the Drury Hotels Joey Haines Invite at Southeast Missouri State University. The Gusties then return to action next Saturday, taking part in the Hamline University Invite in St. Paul, Minn.