Men's Meet Summary / Women's Meet Summary

MENOMONIE, Wis. — Saint Mary's University track and field coach Shawn McMahon looked at the UW-Stout Invitational as the first “official” meet of the season for his Cardinals.

And what a start it was.

Brittany Kuehn (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) posted a second-place finish and Teri Heinzen (Marshfield, Wis.) chipped in a pair of fourth-place efforts to pace the Cardinals in the non-team-scored event.

“It was a pretty solid meet for us,” said McMahon. “The best way to look at this meet is to go back to a year ago and see what our times were, compared to where they are now. We've come a long way already, and the indoor season is just beginning.”

Kuehn posted a time of 2:21.26 — the third-best tie in school history — to finish second in the 800, while Emily Dee (Racine, Minn.) added a fourth in the 5000 (19:45.38) and Heinzen chipped in fourths in both the 55 (7.62) and the 200 (27.26). The SMU junior also chipped in a ninth in the long jump (4.72 meters) and Sara Harstad (Chatfield, Minn.) tallied a fourth in the shot put (11.58 meters).

On the men's side, John Vallez (Eagan, Minn.) was 10th in the 1000 (2:46.40),
Benton Kodet (Northfield, Minn.) was eighth in the 600 (1:28.59), Curt VanAsten (Shiocton, Wis.) was 10th in the long jump (5.71 meters) and Marty Howard (Chicago, Ill.) was 11th in the 800 (2:04.54).

“This was a good start for us,” McMahon said. “We've got a ways to go, but I think we've off to a good start.”