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WINONA, Minn. — It was a day of firsts for the Saint Mary's University track and field teams, as first-year head coach Niels Anderson got his first chance to see his Cardinals in action at the first indoor meet of the season, the SMU Early Birdinal.

After SMU's first impressions certainly put a smile on the face on the Cardinal head coach.

"Overall I am very pleased with the performances," said Anderson, whose Cardinals teams both placed third in the season-opening meet. "With only a portion of our team ready to compete, I felt we still represented ourselves incredibly well.

"Also, the energy and team enthusiasm made a palpable difference in many of the performances."

Katie Stolz (Forest Lake, Minn.), Allie Thiel (Burr Ridge, Ill.) and Clare Siska (Rochester, Minn.) nearly swept the mile, going 1-2-4 — with Stolz clocking a winning time of 5:34.69, while Thiel was second in 5:39.43 and Siska was fourth with a time of 5:41.97. Becca Iten (Fridley, Minn.) chipped in a first in the pole vault (2.45 meters) and Laura Schommer (Hutchinson, Minn.) posted a first in the 55 (7.55) and a second in the pole vault (2.30 meters).

On the men's side, Gus Wiggert (La Crosse, Wis.) and Tyler Kircher (Cashton, Wis.) went 1-2 in sweeping the throws events, with Wiggert winning the shot put (13.16 meters), followed by Kircher (11.498), while the two traded places in the weight throw, as Kircher won with a throw of 14.44 and Wiggert was second (12.58).

Byran Ortman (Chicago, Ill.) chipped in a first-place effort in the high jump, outlasting two other competitors at 1.75 meters, while Jacob Paulson (Ellendale, Minn.) and Phil Emmerich (Mondovi, Wis.) chipped in second-place efforts in the 400 (57.41) and pole vault (3.05 meters).

The Cardinals are back in action next Saturday, traveling to River Falls, Wis., to take part in the Falcon Winter Classic.