The Gustavus Adolphus track and field squad picked up a number of good qualifying efforts during the first day of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Gustavus women enter the final day tied for second at 28 points with Macalester, while the Gustie men are sixth with 27 points, just one back of St. Olaf. St. Thomas leads the women’s race with 75.5 points, while Saint John’s leads the men’s race with 50 points.
Gustavus Adolphus Men
Sophomore Ben Treichel (Webster, Wis.) sprinted to a win in his qualifying heat of the 400 dash. His time of :49.75 makes him the fastest qualifier for Saturday’s final. Treichel also qualified sixth in the 200 dash with a :22.74 clocking. Junior Adam Caulfield (Woodbury, Minn.) joins Treichel in the 200 final after posting the eighth-best qualifying time of :22.77.
Junior Tanner Miest (New London, Minn.) posted the best qualifying time in the 110 hurdles, winning his heat with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of :14.80. Freshman Tyler Geyen (Watertown, Minn.) qualified fifth for Saturday’s final with a time of :15.32.
The 4×100 relay team of Treichel, Caulfield, Matt Wittman (Sr., Willmar, Minn.) and Chad Arlt (Fr., St. Michael, Minn.) advanced to the final by winning their heat with the second-best qualifying time of: 43.44.
Sophomore Chris deLaubenfels (Mount Vernon, Iowa) finished seventh in his qualifying heat of the 1500 run with a time of 4:21.12, missing the final by only 0.16 seconds.
Among finals contested Friday night, John Retka (Fr., Shoreview, Minn.) and Drew Hood (So., Mankato, Minn.) posted third place finished in the long jump and pole vault, respectively. Retka qualified for the long jump final with a qualifying jump of 20-3 3/4 and then bettered the mark in the final by jumping 21-6. Hood was one of five vaulters to clear 15-1, but could not get over 15-5, the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Senior Joe Atkinson (Lake Crystal, Minn.) finished sixth in the shot put with a toss of 47-1 3/4, bettering his qualifying mark of 45-3 1/2.
The 4×800-meter relay team of Mark Hall (Sr., Windom, Minn.), John Gamble (Fr., Appleton, Wis.), Chris Ward (Jr., Mapleton, Minn.), and Ryan Brownell (Fr., Hibbing, Minn.) finished fifth with a time of 8:09.11.
Gustavus Adolphus Women
Funto Okanla (So., St. Paul, Minn.) and Kelsey Becker (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) each finished second in their respective heats of the 100 dash to qualify for the Saturday’s final. Okanla qualified fifth with a: 12.84 clocking, while Becker qualified seventh with time of :12.93. Blythe Bittman (Sr., Fairmont, Minn.) qualified for the 200 dash final with a fifth-place qualifying time of: 26.83.
Okanla, Becker, and Bittman then joined Sari Lindeman (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.) to qualify second in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of: 49.02. Lindeman also finished second in the long jump with a leap of 17-10 1/4.
First-year McKenzie Burgess (Welcome, Minn.) qualified seventh in the 400 dash with a time of: 60.92, while Mollie Lager posted an 11th-place qualifying time of 5:01.30 in the 1500 run. Carlie Hanson (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.) also posted a third-place qualifying time in the 400 hurdles with her heat-winning time of: 66.81.
Ashley Cronen (Sr., Kandiyohi, Minn.) missed taking the best qualifying time in Saturdays’s 800 final by the slimmest of margins, finishing in a time of 2:20.65, just .01 seconds behind St. Olaf’s Audrey Weber. Cronen was also involved in another close finish with Weber, anchoring the 4×800 relay team to a third place finish in a time of 9:32.09. Weber again edged Cronen at the line by 0.01 seconds. Sam Madsen (Fy., Morgan, Minn.), Heidi Bulfer (Jr., Fairmont, Minn.) and Kourtney Joyce (Sr., Wadena, Minn.) ran the first three legs of the relay.
In other event finals, Sarah Bernhardson (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.) finished seventh in the 10000 with a time of 39:05.84, while Vicky Peterson (So., Plymouth, Minn.) and Ashley Clemen (Jr., Appleton, Minn.) finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the discus throw. Peterson recorded a toss of 116-4, while Clemen heaved the discus a distance of 110-10.
Action Saturday gets underway at St. Thomas’ O’Shaughnessy Stadium at 4 p.m. with finals in the women’s javelin and triple jump and the men’s hammer throw and high jump. Track events get underway at 5 p.m. with the women’s 3000 steeplechase.