By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Christian Beamer (Two Harbors, Minn.) got the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships off and running Thursday evening, setting a new school record in the high jump as part of the men's heptathlon.
 
Friday, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota sophomore stepped aside, and let teammate Desmond Steward (Bayside, Wis.) take center stage.
 
And Steward did not disappoint.
 
Steward earned All-MIAC honors in the long jump, uncorking a leap of 6.69 meters to place third behind St. Thomas' Conor White (7.21m) and Nicolas Spann (7.06m).
 
Fueled by Steward's third-place showing — and a fourth-place effort by Kyle Lichttenegger (De Pere, Wis.) in the 60 — the Cardinal men are sitting ninth in the team standings.
 
The Saint Mary's women, meanwhile, are holding down the 12th spot after Day 1 — thanks in part to the efforts of freshman Sydney Klausler (Lakeville, Minn.).
 
Lichttenegger qualified for the finals in the 60, clocking the fifth-fastest performance with a time of 7.11, and improved on that time — and his place finish — with a 7.02 in the finals, earning him a fourth-place finish. Lichttenegger also added a 12^th-place showing in the long jump with a leap of 6.33 meters, and a 13th in the high jump, clearing 1.80 meters.
 
Beamer may not have been able to match his record-setting leap of 1.97 meters from Thursday heptathlon when he competed in Friday's high jump competition, but he did clear 1.90 meters — good enough for a fifth-place finish.
 
Beamer also completed the final three events in the heptathlon earlier in the day, running a 10.9 60-meter hurdles, clearing 3.30 meters in the pole vault, and posting a 3:13.18 in the 1000 to finish 15th with 3751 points.
 
Klausler was the top performer for the Cardinal women, narrowly missing a shot at reaching the finals in the 60, posting a time of 8.16, while Alicia Schurrer (Forest Lake, Minn.) chipped in a time of 8.42. Klauser — making her first conference championships appearance — also delivered a leap of 5.28 meters to finish sixth in the long jump.
 
Other Cardinal competitors Friday included Matt Boone (Mindoro, Wis.) in the 60 (7.33), Tanner Moris (Crandon, Wis.) in the mile (4:39.77), Kynzie Smedsrud (Luverne, Minn.) in the 60 hurdles (10.47),
 
The men's distance medley relay team of Jordan Malikowski (Royalton, Minn.), Andrew Allemann (Cochrane, Wis.), Ben Borash (Bowlus, Minn.), and Isaiah Olsem (Fulda, Minn.) clocked  a ninth-place time of 10:51.40, while the women's DMR — Anna Marinc (Carol Stream, Ill.), Smedsrud, Hannah Crowe (Baraboo, Wis.), and Danielle Franke (Mounds View, Minn.) — were 11th in 13:47.11.
 
The three-day indoor conference championships, hosted by St. Olaf, conclude on Saturday, with field events beginning at 11 a.m. and track events slated to start at 1 p.m.