By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's and women's track and field teams kick off their 2018 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

The Saint Mary's Early Birdinal Information:
• Meet Schedule
 
Cardinals' Last Action:
• Saturday's Saint Mary's Early Birdinal is the 2018 indoor season opener for the Cardinals.
 
Cardinals At Saint Mary's Early Birdinal—A Year Ago:
• January 14, 2017: The Cardinals kicked off their indoor season in impressive fashion, as the Cardinal men recorded 15 top-five finishes, and the Cardinal women added seven at the Saint Mary's Early Birdinal 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 Open.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Men's Roster | 2018 Women's Roster | 2018 Schedule | Record Book
• Becca Dup (Albert Lea, Minn.) and David Kemper (Woodbury, Minn.) each competed in their first-ever NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships in 2017, with Dup placing 17th in the triple jump, while Kemper was 12th in the pole vault. … Dup (long and triple jumps), Kemper (pole vault), and Kyle Lichttenegger (De Pere, Wis. / 100) all collected USTFCCCA All-Region honors during the outdoor season a year ago. … The Cardinals posted five All-MIAC First-Team performers at the 2017 MIAC Outdoor Championships, led by Dup—who completed a long jump double-double, adding the outdoor conference title to her indoor crown. Kemper (pole vault), Lichttenegger (200), Desmond Steward (Bayside, Wis. / triple jump), and Austin O'Hare (Rushford, Minn. / steeplechase) also claimed All-MIAC honors. … Dup dominated the jumping events last season, owning outdoor school-record leaps of 5.49m in the long jump and 11.70m in the triple jump. She also set the school mark in the indoor long jump with a leap of 5.53m. … Kemper closed out the season owning the program's outdoor pole vault record, clearing 4.87m at the Concordia-St. Paul Twilight on May 3. … Steward and Jovan Newsum (Glendale Heights, Ill.) also got into the record-setting trend during the outdoor season, with Steward shattering the school mark in the triple jump (13.99m), while Newsum owned the program's top time in the 3,000 (8:57.35). … The Cardinals enjoyed a banner indoor season a year ago, setting 20 Top 5 all-time performances—13 for the men and seven for the women. … Saint Mary's also posted seven indoor school records last season. On the women's side, records fell in the 60 (Dup, 8.03) and long jump (Dup, 5.53m), while on the men's side, new records were set in the 60 (Lichttenegger, 7.03), 600 (Brandon Krogman, 1:23.19), 800 (Krogman, 1:55.62), 3,000 (Newsum, 8:45.92) and 5,000 (Newsum, 15:04.16). … Dup won the long jump at the indoor season-ending conference championships, posting a jump of 5.43m. … Newsum, Krogman, and Steward also posted top-three, All-MIAC finishes at the indoor conference championships—Steward finished second in the triple jump (13.78m), while Newsum placed third in the 5,000 (15:28.49) and Krogman was third in the 800 (1:55.86).