WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's and women's track and field teams kick off their 2017 indoor season on Saturday, hosting the Saint Mary's Early Birdinal at the Gostomski Fieldhouse.
 
The Saint Mary's Early Birdinal Field:
• Saint Mary's, Winona State, Bethany Lutheran, Luther, Upper Iowa
 
Cardinals' Last Action:
• Saturday's Saint Mary's Early Birdinal is the 2017 indoor season opener for the Cardinals.
 
Cardinals At Saint Mary's Early Birdinal—A Year Ago:
• January 17, 2015: Ill.) Bryan Ortman led the way for the Cardinal men, placing first in both the long and triple jumps—two of the men's four first-place finishes—and Maria Missurelli's first in the pole vault led the way for the Saint Mary's women at the season-opening, five-team, non-scored event at the Gostomski Fieldhouse | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The Cardinals are back on the track next Saturday, as Saint Mary's travels to Menomonie, Wis., to take part in the UW-Stout Warren Bowlus Invitational.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Men's Roster | 2017 Women's Roster | 2017 Schedule | Record Book
• Morris Dennis (Elk River, Minn.) qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships for the second year in a row in 2016, finishing 17th in the 400 with a time of 48.52. … Maria Missurelli (Franklin, Wis.) locked up her third straight All-MIAC second-place finish in the pole vault, clearing 3.30 at the MIAC outdoor championships. Missurelli also placed second at this year's indoor championships, while also notching a second-place effort at the outdoor championships a year ago. … Jovan Newsum (Glendale Heights, Ill.) and Bryan Ortman (Chicago, Ill.) earned honorable-mention honors in the 5,000 and triple jump, respectively, at the MIAC Outdoor Championships. Newsum clocked a time of 15:14.77, while Ortman delivered a leap of 13.70 meters in the triple jump. … Dennis and Austin O'Hare (Rushford, Minn.) also collected honorable-mention All-MIAC honors, after recording fifth-place performances at the MIAC Outdoor Championships. Dennis finished fifth in the 400, stopping the clock in 49.43, while O'Hare was fifth in the steeplechase, recording a time of 9:43.05. … The Cardinals also boasted a pair of all-conference performers at the MIAC Indoor Championships last March. Dennis shattered his own school record in the 400, for the second time last year, placing third with a time of 49.46—four-tenths of a second faster than his previous school mark. Missurelli, meanwhile, broke her own school record in the pole vault, clearing 3.35 meters to place second. … Ortman earned honorable-mention all-conference indoor honors in both the triple jump and the long jump, placing fourth and sixth, respectively. … James Davis (Dallas, Texas), Brandon Krogman (Owatonna, Minn.), and Becca Dup (Albert Lea, Minn.) also collected honorable-mention All-MIAC honors at the indoor championships, with Davis placing fourth in the 200, and Krogman and Dup adding sixths in the 600 and long jump, respectively. … Davis set the school record in the indoor 200 at the UW-Stevens Point Big Dawg Invitational, stopping the clock in 22.71, while Krogman became the new school record-holder in the 800, breaking the tape in 1:58.74. … Newsum broke the school's 16-year-old record in the 5,000 twice last season. At the Macalester Bolstorff Twilight, Newsum posted a second-place time of 14:49.86—nearly nine seconds faster than the previous mark, set by Ryan Bickler in 2000—before shaving another eight seconds off at the North Central Last Chance meet, clocking a time of 14:41.47. …  Dup became the school-record holder in the long jump, leaping 5.33 meters at the Minnesota State-Mankato Maverick Twilight. … Dennis, Davis, Krogman, and Andrew Allemann shattered the school record in the 4x400 relay with a fifth-place time of 3:22.75 at the Phil Esten Challenge.