MANKATO, Minn. — With the MIAC Outdoor Championships just over a week away, the Saint Mary's track and field teams have two more opportunities to make sure things were clicking on all cylinders — beginning Wednesday at the Minnesota State-Mankato Open.
 
And the Cardinals certainly made the most of the opportunity.
 
Chris Bulwa (Glenview, Ill.) was once again behind the wheel, driving the Cardinal bus, as the sophomore had a hand in SMU's top two performances — winning the 200 and placing second as a member of the 4x100 relay team.
 
Bulwa stopped the clock in 21.99 seconds — just three hundreths of a second off the school record of 21.96 — to win the 200 for the second straight weekend, before joining Ben Kritsberg (Rosemount, Minn.), Brady Johnson (Elburn, Ill.), and Oliver Adamson (Rochester, Minn.) to post a second-place time of 42.01 in the 4x100 relay.
 
Aidan Gatz (Elburn, Ill.) and Brady Johnson (Elburn, Ill.) also posted Top 5 showings for the SMU men, with Gatz clearing 4.56 meters to place third in the pole vault and Johnson posting a third-place mark of 12.79 meters in the triple jump.
 
Other top 20 showings for the Cardinal men included: Oliver Adamson (Rochester, Minn. / 200, sixth, 22.62), Antonio Cisewski (Custer, Wis. / long jump, eighth, 6.56m), Dan Cooper (Belle Plaine, Minn. / long jump, 11th, 6.09m), Garrett Jackson (West Linn, Ore. / 200, 17th, 23.38), and Kritsberg (100, 20th, 11.35)
 
Caroline Gearin (Osceola, Wis.) turned in the top performance for the SMU women, placing fourth in the pole vault with a mark of 3.44 meters. Megan Frosch (Oconomowoc, Wis.) led a ninth-10th-11th-place SMU showing the 800, stopping the clock in 2:32.31 to finish eighth,
Just in front of teammates Caeli McMahon (Holmen, Wis. / 2:33.42) and Abbie Meyer (Sauk Centre, Minn. / 2:34.06).
 
Samantha Kubes (New Prague, Minn.) posted a 10th in the hammer (46.22m), with Anna Becker (Cannon Falls, Minn.) chipped in a 17th in the hammer (43.95m), and Sydney Jackman (Litchfield, Minn.) added 20th-place showings in both the discus (34.75m) and shot put (11.45m).
 
The Cardinals will be back on the track once more before next weekend's conference championships, heading to St. Paul, Minn., on Friday to take part in Hamline's Meet of the UnSasintly.