ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s and women’s track & field teams competed at the Bethel Invitational on a cold and windy Saturday, coming away with one school record and six event winners.
The women’s 4×100 relay team of Danielle Miller (Jr., Waconia), Birgen Nelson (Sr., Edina), Megan Geraets (So., Mankato), and Kate Carlson (So., Inver Grove Heights) highlighted the day by setting the school record with a time of 48.02. The time, which placed second at the meet, beat the quartet’s previous record of 48.17 set last season.
Gustie event winners included Wyatt Quiring (Sr., Fairmont) in the 400-meter with a time of 50.25, Nelson in the 400-hurdles at 1:03.21, Annika Poe (Sr., Big Lake) in the discus with a throw of 126-02 and the shot put at 44-9.5, Josh Beiswanger (Sr., Mankato) in the hammer throw at 183-07, and Danny Bies (So., New Hope) in the high jump with a clearance of 6-4.
“In not ideal weather conditions, our women’s 4×100 relay team broke the school record and set the tone for today,” Head Coach Aaron Lund said. “It has been since February since our full team competed together so it was a much needed return to competition. We had some ups and downs but overall I thought our team did very well today. We had some newcomers debut with some very promising performances and had many personal bests even in the first meet in these conditions. Our team is very excited to compete at home next weekend and I know they are eager to compete well in front of our home crowd.”
Other notable performers on the women’s side include Madi Kes (Jr., Jordan) taking second in triple jump with a distance of 36-1.25 and placing fourth in the long jump at 16-3.75. Miller finished runner up in the 100-hurdles with a time of 15.95. Nelson ran a 14.15 for the fastest time the 100-hurdle prelims, but did not run in the finals. Carlson finished the 100-meter in 12.56 for second place and the 200-meter in 26.51 for third place. Ally Rakow (Jr., Bloomington) took fourth in the high jump at 4-11. Kelly Brennan (So., Shakopee) finished fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 141-2. Evelyn Villalobos (Jr., Crystal) took fourth in the 5000-meter with a time of 18:18.64.
For the men, Spencer Pearson finished the triple jump third with a leap of 40-9. Matthew Skelly (Jr., Le Sueur) took fourth in the 100-meter with a time of 11.36. Seth Zeitchick (Sr., St. Paul) placed fourth in the 400-meter, clocking in at 51.43, with Agro Gushwa (Jr., Geneva) on his heels in fifth with a time of 52.31. Trevor LaVigne (Sr., Farmington) finished fifth in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Quiring finished sixth in the 200-meter at 22.85. Tyler Smith (So., Norwood Young America) took sixth in the 1500-meter at 4:07.74. And Henry Hinchcliffe (Sr., Austin) took sixth in the 5000-meter at 15:39.02.
The Gusties next compete at the University of Minnesota M City Classic on Wednesday and the UW-La Crosse Phil Esten Challenge on Thursday before hosting the Lee Krough Invitational next Saturday.