St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s outdoor track and field team hosted the 14th Annual Drake Alternative on Saturday afternoon at the Gustavus Outdoor Track and Field Complex. Against the largest field of competitors they have faced this spring, the Gusties posted six individual top five finishes at their final home meet of the season. No team scores were kept at the meet.
Leading Gustavus was Rachel Colter (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.) and Jill Kalis (Jr., Waseca, Minn.) who both turned in a top three finish in the throwing events. Colter took third in the javelin with a throw of 113-feet one-inch and also finished eighth in the shot put with a toss of 39-feet 10-inches. Kalis placed third in the discus with a throw of 128-feet seven-inches.
Sara Swanson (So., Fairbanks, Alaska) and Hayley Solheim (So., Crookston, Minn.) finished fifth (40’ 11.75”) and eighth (38’ 10.5”), respectively, in the shot put, while Elizabeth Weiers (Jr., Le Center, Minn.) rounded out the squad’s top throwers with a fourth place effort in the hammer throw (160’ 5”).
Also in the field events, Kelly O’Neill (Jr., Lake Elmo, Minn.) took seventh in the high jump (4’ 9”), and Nevada Wendlandt (Sr., Maplewood, Minn.) placed ninth in the pole vault (10’ 5”).
Gustavus’s top performance on the track was supplied by Marit Henckel (Jr., Viroqua, Wis.) who ran a 12:23.63 to finish fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Four Gusties finished inside the top 10 in the steeplechase with Emily Sands (Fy., Rochester, Minn.) taking fifth (12:39.23), Mata Agre (So., Corcoran, Minn.) finishing sixth (12:40.93), and Olivia Crane (Sr., Mason City, Iowa) coming in 10th (12:58.61).
Rounding out the Black and Gold’s top track competitors was Lyndsi Schwichtenberg (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.) and Mikaela Algren (Fy., Prior Lake, Minn.). Schwichtenberg ran eighth in the 1,500-meter run (5:03.20), and Algren finished ninth in the 800-meter run (2:42.03).
The Gustavus women’s track and field team will be back in action on Wednesday, April 30 when it competes in the Minnesota State University, Mankato Twilight Meet in Mankato.