LA CROSSE, Wis. — It may not have been the most ideal conditions to compete in, but the Saint Mary's track and field teams certainly didn't seem to mind.
 
Despite temperatures in the low 40s — and feels like temps struggling to climb above freezing — the Cardinals heated things up at Saturday's UW-La Crosse Phil Esten Challenge.
 
Going head-to-head against several fellow members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) — not to mention several from the neighboring Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) — among the 28 teams, the Cardinals more than held their own, posting 16 Top 20 finishes.
 
Chris Bulwa (Glenview, Ill.) had a hand in the Cardinals' top two performances, placing seventh individually in the 400 with a time of 51.10, before teaming with Ben Kritsberg (Rosemount, Minn.), Antonio Cisewski (Custer, Wis.), and Oliver Adamson (Rochester, Minn.) to post a sixth-place time of 42.86 in the men's 4x100.
 
Brady Johnson (Elburn, Ill.) narrowly missed cracking the top 10, placing 11th in the triple jump with a mark of 12.83 meters, while Casen Fritz (Minnesota City, Minn.) was 13th in the hammer (42.91m). Cisewski also added a 15th in the long jump (6.34m), while Aidan Gatz (Elburn, Ill.) chipped in an 18th in the pole vault (4.20m), Kritsberg finished 19th in the 100 (11.35), Adamson delivered a 19th in the 200 (23.06), and Gabe Bickerstaff (Rollingstone, Minn.) placed 20th in the 5,000 (16:46.67).
 
On the women's side, Samantha Kubes (Eden Prairie, Minn.) posted a 10th-place effort in the hammer with a throw of 43.90 meters, before adding a mark of 11.98 meters to finish 15th in the shot put. Morgan Wallendal (Fond du Lac, Wis.) uncorked a throw of 36.93 meters to place 12th in the discus, and Anna Becker (Cannon Falls, Minn.) notched a 14th-place throw of 42.08 meters in the hammer. Other top 20 performances for the SMU women included Caroline Gearin's (Osceola, Wis.) 15th-place mark in the pole vault (3.32m) and 16th-place time in the 200 (27.50), and Samantha Munsno's (Plain City, Utah), 19th-place showing in the 100 (13.62).
 
The Cardinals are back in action next Saturday, heading to St. Paul, Minn., to take part in Macalester's Rider/Bolstorff Invitational.