WINONA, Minn. - The Saint Mary's University Track and Field team took off today on their first day of competition at their indoor MIAC Conference Championships held at Saint John's University. Many competitors represented the team today across a variety of events, and many more are to compete tomorrow.
 
Zari Young continued her winning streak in the 60m, qualifying for finals in 7.76s, and racing 7.70s in the finals to win the Conference championship title!
 
To begin the meet, Isaiah Fitszgerald and Kendra Klobe both raced through their respective men's and women's heats of the 5000m run. Isaiah finished in 17th with a time of 16:32.93, while Kendra crossed the line in 20:02.99 to finish 16th. 
           
Following these two distance runners, Oliver Adamson, Ben Kritsberg, and Ryan Cramer raced in the 60m dash, and ran some of their best races yet. Kritsberg finished 18th with a time of 7.20s, while Adamson finished 15th with a new personal best time of 7.18s. Cramer, running a new personal record of 7.00s in the prelims, qualified for the final round, where later he dashed to another huge personal best, running 6.96s to earn fifth place overall as well as sixth all time in Saint Mary's history! Samantha Munson (11th) finished with a time of 8.12s, and McKenzie Munson (22nd) ran 8.45s. Melissa Torres (17th) ran a new personal best of 8.25s, which ties her for ninth all time.
 
Another member of the women's distance team, Mya Slavin, continued the success of the Track and Field team, earning eighth place overall in the mile with a new personal best of 5:18.25. 
 
Eddie Paton finished 14th in the men's 400m dash, finishing with a new season best time of 52.13s. 
 
The last event of the evening in which the Cardinals were represented was the Distance Medley Relay (DMR). The Cardinals had both a men's and women's team running the relay. Running for the men, Grant Schneider, Cade Kloss, Zander Olmschenk, and Sean Smyth ran the 1200m, 400m, 800m, and the 1600m, respectively to finish ninth with a time of 10:51.36, moving them up to the third all-time spot for Saint Mary's in this relay event. Representing the women in this event, Abbie Meyer, Katherine Goergen, Megan Frosch, and Klobe (returning to the track again from her 5000m) raced the 1200m, 400m, 800m, and 1600m legs, respectively. They finished 10th in a time of 14:10.98. 
 
In the field events Antonio Cisewski claimed 13th in the men's long jump with 6.30m. In the women's weight throw, Anna Becker threw 14.74m to finish 6th, and Morgan Wallendal threw 14.88m to finish fourth! Casen Fritz also gave his best effort in this event on the men's side, throwing a new personal best of 15.85m that earned him sixth place overall!
 
The Cardinals will return to competition again tomorrow to compete in the second half of the two-day Conference meet. Field events begin at 12:00 p.m, and running events begin at 1:00 p.m.