BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its women’s outdoor track & field awards Thursday and Gustavus won the top four honors. Birgen Nelson (Jr., Edina) won both the 2022 MIAC Outstanding Track Athlete and the 2022 Outstanding Performance of the Meet, while Annika Poe (Jr., Big Lake) was named the 2022 Outstanding Field Athlete and Aaron Lund earned 2022 Women’s Coach of the Year.
Nelson won both the 100- and 400-meter hurdle titles at the 2022 MIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Her time of 13.71 in the 100 hurdles is a new program, facility, and conference record, and ranks first in NCAA Division III this season, while her 400-meter hurdles time of 1:00.64 set a new program and facility mark while ranking third in the country this year. Nelson’s performance in the 100-meter hurdles was selected by MIAC coaches as the Outstanding Performance of the Meet, while her showing in the 400-meter hurdles came in second place on the ballot. Nelson is the first Gustie to receive MIAC Outstanding Track Athlete honors in women’s track & field since Erica Stone won back-to-back honors in 1998 and 1999.
Poe won a pair of MIAC titles at the 2022 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, taking home top honors in the shot put and discus. Poe’s margin of victory in the discus was more than three meters at 41.44 (135-11), while her shot put set a new school and facility record of 14.31 meters (46-11) – good for seventh-best in NCAA Division III this season. Poe is the third Gustie since 2011 and the second in the last three seasons to receive MIAC Outstanding Field Athlete honors in women’s outdoor track & field.
Lund was named MIAC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year for the first time after guiding the Gusties to their first-ever outdoor track & field championship. In Lund’s third season at the helm, Gustavus came away with nine individual All-Conference honorees – six of whom earned individual conference titles – along with a pair of conference champion relay squads. Lund is the first Gustavus coach to earn the award since Tom Thorkelson in 2008.