MANKATO, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s track & field team took ninth of 15 teams Saturday at the Ted Nelson Classic on the campus of Minnesota State Mankato, scoring 15 points. Minnesota State took first place with 152 points.
“We know going in that it was going to be tough with definitely the best competition we have seen,” said Head Coach Dale Bahr. “We were ready for it and excited to see how we really stacked up. It helps to see that we still have work to do.”
Taylor Rooney (Fy., Andover, Minn.) and Michael Hensch (Jr., North Branch, Minn.) led the way for the Gusties, accounting for more than half of the team point total.
Rooney continued to perform well in the 60-meter hurdles, turning in a season-best time of 8.23 for a third place finish – which also ranks eighth in Division III.
“Really exciting to see that,” Bahr commented on Rooney’s performance. “My thing with him was to see if he was going to step up with the tougher competition, and he showed us that he was willing to step up so that was fun to see.”
Hensch scored points in both the shot put and weight throw. His 51-11.75 shot put throw was good for fourth place, while his 54-8.75 weight throw was eighth best.
Individually, Ben Madigan (Jr., Kohler, Wis.) was the only other Gustie to finish in the top-eight in their respective events. Madigan scored a point with an eighth place finish in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:24.60. Brennan Gustafson (Fy., Kasson, Minn) finished just behind Madigan at 1:24.72.
The 4×400-meter relay squad of Madigan, Bobby Verchota (So., Hastings, Minn.), Daniel Trentacoste (Sr., Orland Park, Ill.), and Jack Blaney (Jr., Lake, Elmo, Minn.) scored two points for the Black and Gold with a seventh place finish, coming in at 3:30.23.
Additionally, Ryley Sandberg (Sr., Polk City, Iowa) and Andrew Stumbo (Fy., Boone, Iowa) also finished just outside of earning a point with ninth place times. Sandberg crossed the finish line at 2:35.82 in the 1,000-meter run, while Stumbo finished the mile run at 4:30.69.
“One of the things that I thought we did really well was that we just went out and competed. We had a lot of season-bests and personal-bests and it showed us that they weren’t afraid to go in and compete against tough competition.”
Next up, the Gusties head to Collegeville, Minn. for the Saint John’s Invitational next Saturday.