Women’s track and field fourth at MIAC Outdoor Championships with five event victories

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Led by five first-place finishes and 10 all-conference performances, the St. Olaf College women’s track and field team finished fourth at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday at Macalester Stadium.

St. Olaf’s five first-place performances were the program’s most since 1999-00, as the Oles took fourth in the 12-team standings with 118 points. St. Olaf finished 13.5 points behind third-place Bethel University and 22 points behind second-place Concordia-Moorhead. Gustavus Adolphus College won the team title with 170.5 points.

Over the course of the two-day meet, St. Olaf had 10 All-MIAC performances (places 1-3) and seven Honorable Mention All-MIAC performances (places 4-6), highlighted by senior Alison Bode sweeping the conference titles in the 5,000-meter run and 10,000-meter run. Bode is believed to be the first Ole to sweep the MIAC outdoor titles in those two events.

In addition to Bode’s two first-place finishes, senior Sophie Abernethy won the 1,500-meter run, junior Isabel Wyatt won the 800-meter run, and St. Olaf won the 4×800-meter relay, with three of the Oles’ five first-place performances coming on Friday.

FRIDAY RECAP

St. Olaf earned 26 of its 64 points on the opening day with a 1-3-4-5-8 finish in the 1,500-meter run to sit in second place, just three points behind Concordia-Moorhead.

In the first event of the meet on the track, Abernethy got the Oles started by leading the 1-3-4-5-8 showing in the 1,500-meter run by winning her first MIAC individual title in 4:38.09, which was over six seconds faster than the runner-up. The senior was St. Olaf’s first conference champion in the event since Megan (Daymont) Thomas ’03 in 2002-03.

Junior Ella Landis, junior Lauren Walda, senior Jules Fromm, and first year Abi Lindquist all joined Abernethy in scoring in the event, with Landis also earning all-conference honors in third (4:46.12). Walda and Fromm grabbed two of the three honorable-mention all-conference spots in fourth (4:47.47) and fifth (4:47.84), respectively, while Lindquist scored in eighth (4:50.03). Fromm’s fifth-place finish was the highest individual finish of her career, while Walda ran the event at the conference meet for the first time.

Bode capped the night by winning the 10,000-meter run, which was pushed back a couple of hours due to the 80-degree temperatures, in 35:35.82. The senior won the event by over three-and-a-half minutes to become the first Ole to win the event since Emma Lee ’13 in 2012-13 and claim the first MIAC individual title of her career. The time also ranks 16th nationally, positioning Bode to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. First year Arabella England earned All-MIAC honors with a third-place finish (39:39.82) to give the Oles two of the top-three finishers in the event.

St. Olaf’s 4×800-meter relay of sophomore Siri Erickson, Fromm, Landis, and Abernethy outpaced second-place Concordia-Moorhead by over eight seconds with a winning time of 9:17.96, which broke the facility record of 9:18.91 established by the College of Saint Benedict in 2015. The quartet’s performance gave the Oles their second consecutive title in the event and their time ranks fifth on St. Olaf’s all-time list.

Wyatt was one of three Oles to qualify for the finals in the 800-meter run with top-nine performances in the prelims. The junior posted the top qualifying time by over five-and-a-half seconds (2:10.25) to better her No. 2 standing on St. Olaf’s all-time list at the time. Sophomores Molly DiNardo (6th, 2:18.33) and Nora Mickelson (7th, 2:18.46) qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, with just over 0.1 seconds between them.

Junior Ashlyn Jore added an honorable-mention performance in the long jump by placing fourth with a mark of 5.36 meters (17′ 7″) on her sixth and final attempt. Senior Emma Johnson moved up to eighth on St. Olaf’s all-time list in the shot put with a seventh-place result (12.01m, 39′ 5″), while first year Erika Nesseth rose to ninth all-time in the pole vault after clearing 3.18 meters (10′ 5 ¼”) to take ninth.

SATURDAY RECAP

After winning the event indoors, Wyatt completed her double in the 800-meter run by breaking the school record of Megan (Daymont) Thomas ’03 by just over three-tenths of a second in 2:09.44. The MIAC title was the second of Wyatt’s career, while her time ranks 14th in the country this season. Wyatt’s win made her the first Ole to win the event since Audrey Weber in 2006. DiNardo (6th, 2:19.40) and Mickelson (8th, 2:21.85) also scored in the event for St. Olaf.

Bode finished off her two-title meet by winning the 5,000-meter run in 17:14.72, which was over eight seconds faster than the rest of the field. The senior became St. Olaf’s first conference champion in the event since Christina Vetter ’00 in 1997-98. Walda gave the Oles two all-conference performers in the event in third (17:33.13).

Sophomore Mara Larson claimed her third MIAC runner-up finish and fourth All-MIAC accolade in as many attempts in the high jump by clearing 1.57 meters (5′ 1 ¾”). Larson had fewer misses than two other competitors to clear 1.57 meters, missing once on 1.54 meters (5′ ½”) and once on 1.57 meters before going out on 1.60 meters (5′ 3″).

St. Olaf’s 4×400-meter relay of first year Izzi Jaeckle, senior Jules Fromm, junior Rachael Wilson, and senior Emma Storbakken landed the final all-conference accolade in third (3:59.14), while junior Grace Moeller added an honorable-mention, fourth-place showing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:20.68). The time was the fastest of Moeller’s career and bettered her No. 6 time on St. Olaf’s all-time list by less than one second.

After finishing 11th in the event as a first year, sophomore Otelia Lighthill moved all the way up to fifth in the discus throw (39.75m, 130′ 5″) to secure honorable-mention honors and break onto St. Olaf’s all-time list in ninth. St. Olaf’s 4×100-meter relay of first year Sophie Herweijer, Storbakken, senior Zoe Matre, and Jaeckle also posted a top-10 time in program history, slotting in in seventh after placing eighth (49.70).