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Competing on the conference biggest stage — in his own backyard — the Cardinal duo put together the performance of a lifetime Friday afternoon.

Harstad inched one step closer to a spot in the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, as the Cardinal junior unleashed a throw of 47.14 meters during Day 1 of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships at the SMU Track and Field Complex — not only earning her a second-place finish in the conference hammer throw, but also provisionally qualifying her for the national championships.

Wockenfus, meanwhile uncorked the longest javelin throw in school history, not only earning the Cardinal junior the top spot in the SMU record books, but also a second-place conference finish — only the stadium-record throw of 56.70 meters by Hamline's John Yates bettered his 53.15 meter mark.

“I'm so happy for Ryan and Sara — they were great performance that really kicked off an outstanding day for us,” said SMU coach Shawn McMahon. “We had so many great efforts out there today, it was just a fun, fun day.”

For McMahon and the Cardinals, it was their first opportunity to showcase their new track and field complex to the rest of the conference, and according to the Cardinals head coach, the facility drew rave reviews.

“Everyone seemed pretty pleased with the way everything went,” McMahon said. “I heard nothing but positive remarks all the way around.”

Wockenfus and Harstad certainly set the bar high for the rest of his Cardinal teammates with his second-place effort, and Saturday, Teri Heinzen (Marshfield, Wis.), John Kelly (Rochester, Minn.), Josiah Ryks (Austin, Minn.), Curt VanAsten (Shiocton, Wis.), Emily Dee (Racine, Minn.), Benton Kodet (), Andrew Brueggen (Holmen, Wis.) and Coco Booker (St. Paul, Minn.) will all be looking to join him on the MIAC's center stage.

Heinzen also put together a school-record performance in qualifying for the 200 finals, stopping the clock in 25.80. The Cardinal senior also earned a spot in Saturday's 100 final (12.74), while Kelly equaled her 100-200 double on the men's side with times of 11.06 in the 100 and 22.12 in the 200. Ryks broke the school mark reaching the 400 final with a time of 50.03, while VanAsten posted a time of 56.57 in reaching the finals in the 400 hurdles. Kodet tallied a time of 1:58.09 in the 800 and Dee was clocked in 5:11.81 to earn a spot in Saturday's 1,500 finals. Brueggen and Booker, meanwhile, will take part in Saturday's hammer and shot put finals, respectively. Brueggen, the defending MIAC hammer champion, owns the conference' best throw (56.66 meters), while Booker enters the shot put final with the third-longest toss (12.31 meters).

“It should be an exciting Saturday,” said McMahon. “We've got a lot of people who have the potential to do some really great things — hopefully everything comes together.”