NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University track and field teams got an early season look at how they stacked up against other members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on Friday.
And they seem to be stacking up quite nicely.
The Cardinals, taking part in the St. Olaf Quadrangular — which included fellow MIAC schools St. Olaf, Gustavus, picked up first-place efforts from both Samantha Kubes (New Prague, Minn.) and
Garrett Jackson (West Linn, Ore.) and added six other Top 2 performances at the non-team-scored event.
Kubes collected one of the teams' two first-place finishes with a toss of 14.21 meters to win the women's weight throw, while Jackson stopped the clock in 52.70 to win the men's 400.
Nathalie Freiere (Bloomington, Minn.),
Frankie Bakalars (La Crosse, Wis.), Aiden Gatz (Elburn, Ill.), and
Dan Cooper (Belle Plaine, Minn.) all chipped in second-place efforts for the Cardinals. Freiere was second in the women's pole vault (3.09m), while Bakalars uncorked a toss of 15.37 meters to place second in the men's weight throw — finishing just ahead of teammate
Sean Curran (Appleton, Wis.), who delivered a third-place toss of 15.02m — and Gatz and Cooper delivered second-place performances in the pole vault (4.42m) and triple jump (12.14m), respectively.
Along with Curran's third-place showing in the weight throw, SMU also posted third-place performances from
Chris Bulwa (Glenview, Ill.) in the triple jump (11.66m) and
Coleton Strupp (Holmen, Wis.) in the pole vault (4.27m).
Other top finishers for the Cardinals included: Kubes (fifth, shot put, 11.36m), Caroline Gearin (Osceola, Wis. / fifth, pole vault, 2.95m), Anna Swanson (Osceola, Wis. / fifth, 600, 1:44.75), Freiere (60, sixth, 8.55),
Isaiah Brindamour (Hinckley, Minn. / sixth, 600, 1:28.18), Morgan Wallendal (Fond du Lac, Wis. / weight throw, sixth, 10.43m)
The Cardinals are back in action next Saturday, heading to River Falls, Wis., to take part in the UW-River Falls Winter Classic. Field events kick things off at noon.
