WINONA, Minn. —
Ryan Wockenfus (New London, Wis.) and
Sara Harstad (Chatfield, Minn.) got things off on the right foot for the Saint Mary's University track and field teams at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, as the Cardinal duo collected a pair of second-place finishes during Friday's opening day of the two-day event.
And
Andrew Brueggen (Holmen, Wis.) picked up right where his Cardinal teammates left off on Saturday — garnering a second of his own, as the SMU junior uncorked a toss of 54.03 to place second in the hammer throw during Saturday's action at the SMU Track and Field Complex.
“This was a great event all the way around,” said SMU coach Shawn McMahon, whose men's team — led by the second-place efforts of Wockenfus and Brueggen — finished ninth overall, while the Cardinal women — fueled by Harstad's NCAA provisional qualifying showing in the hammer — collected 22 points to finish 11th overall. “We got some outstanding individual performances, and that's exactly what you hope for as a coach — for your athletes to be at their best in the biggest meet of the season.”
It may have been the biggest event of the season for Wockenfus, Harstad and Brueggen — who are all juniors — but it was the biggest event of her career for senior
Teri Heinzen (Marshfield).
And Heinzen made the most of it, collecting back-to-back third-place finishes in the 100 and 200. The Cardinal senior stopped the clock in 12.48 — missing the school record by four one-hundredths of a second — to place third in the 100, then equaled her school-record time of 25.80 en route to her second third of the afternoon in the 200.
“I'm so happy for Teri — two all-conference performances in her last conference championships, that's just awesome,” said McMahon. “All of our athletes should be proud of the way they performed this weekend. I could not have asked for anything more out of any of them.”
John Kelly (Rochester, Minn.) earned a spot in both the 100 and 200 finals, finishing fifth in the 100 (11.50) and seventh in the 200 (22.34), while
Kevin Hein (Missoula, Mont.) was seventh in the discus (43.28 meters),
Curt VanAsten (Shiocton, Wis.) was eighth in the 400 hurdles (55.48), and
Josiah Ryks (Austin, Minn.) and
Benton Kodet (Northfield, Minn.) were ninth in the 400 (50.18) and 800 (2:01.37), respectively.
Along with Heinzen's two third-place performances, the Cardinal women also got a ninth-place finish from
Emily Dee (Racine, Minn.) in the 1,500 (5:09.59).
St. Thomas swept the team titles, winning the men's event with 178.5 points and the women's crown with 168 points. On the men's side, Hamline finished 22.5 points behind the champion Tommies, followed by Bethel, St. Olaf and Augsburg. Gustavus, the Day 1 women's leader, settled for second, 35.5 points back of UST, while Saint Benedict, Concordia and Bethel rounded out the top five.
During the two-day event, five NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championship automatic-qualifying marks were recorded, while 45 NCAA provisional standards were hit — including the hammer throws of both Harstad and Brueggen (although Brueggen's best toss of the season remains at 56.66) — and four MIAC Outdoor Championship records were broken.
