The Gustavus men’s track and field team will compete in the MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships this Friday and Saturday at Carleton College. Senior hurdler Tyler Geyen and junior sprinter Cole Carlson are ranked among the elite performers in the conference heading into the weekend championships. The meet begins at 2:00 pm on Friday and continues on Saturday beginning at 1:00 pm.
The Gustavus Adolphus men’s outdoor track and field team will rely on a veteran group to improve upon last year’s ninth place finish at the 2009 MIAC Outdoor Championships.
Several Gustie athletes, led by nationally seeded sprinters senior Tyler Geyen (Watertown, Minn.) and junior Cole Carlson (Mora, Minn.), are poised to contend for conference titles. Geyen hopes to bring home a conference title in the 110-meter hurdles to complement the 55-meter hurdles title he won at this year’s MIAC Indoor Championships. He enters as the top seed in the 110-meter hurdles with the fifth fastest time in Division III at 14.62. Cole Carlson is ranked second in the conference and sixth in the nation in the 400 meters with a time of 48.26. Carlson is also seeded sixth in the 200-meter dash (22.33).
Other runners ranked in the top eight on the MIAC Performance list are first-year Matt Dvorak (Burnsville, Minn.), who is fourth in the 100-meter dash (11.03), and seniors Dan Foley (Minneapolis, Minn.) and John Leaf (Center City, Minn.), who are fourth (31:52.31) and fifth (32:18.31) in the 10,000 meters, respectively.
Senior Chad Arlt (St. Michael, Minn.) has been the surprise of the outdoor season as he enters the conference meet seeded first in the javelin with a distance of 185-0 despite not having competed in the event until this year. Tyler Geyen and sophomore Dave Schutt (Hampton, Minn.) look to add points in the javelin as each is seeded third (167-10) and fourth (166-9), respectively. Junior Brian Anderson (Bloomington, Minn.) will contend for all-conference honors as he ranks fourth in the hammer throw (164-6) and fifth in the shot put (48-1 3/4).
Relays will be a key source of points for Gustavus as two relays are ranked in the top five. The 4×400 relay set a new school record at the Drake Relays with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:16.63. Despite posting the seventh fastest time in the nation, the Gusties enter as the fourth seed in arguably one of the most tightly contested events at the MIAC Championships this year. Relay members include Tyler Geyen, Cole Carlson, Colby Citrowske (So., Canby, Minn.), and Matt Leeb (So., Kasota, Minn.). The 4×100 relay will vie for all-conference honors as the team heads into the meet ranked third with a time of 42.73.