WINONA, Minn. — All season long, Saint Mary's University track and field coach Paul Thornton has vowed that his teams were getting better with each meet they competed in.

Good, and getting better.

How right he was.

The Cardinals saved their best for last, as they were crowned champions in three events to highlight a banner weekend at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships.

"Both our men's and women's teams took another giant step forward in the MIAC," said Thornton after his men's team shattered three school records en route to a 10th-place showing, while the women's squad, fueled by five school-record efforts, placed eighth. "We scored more points (at the conference meet) than we ever have before, and anytime you can achieve that you have to be pleased. It was a great performance all the way around."

You can say that again.

Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) and Todd Yankowski (Chicago, Ill.) captured individual conference titles, with Dingels winning the 400 in a school-record time of 58.68, while Yankowski won the javelin with a toss of 173-11. Dingels also had a part in SMU's other conference-championship effort, teaming with Amber Liss (Onalaska, Wis.), Assumpta Mbele (Northfield, Minn,.) and Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) to cross the finish line first in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 4:03.66.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Cardinals.

Along with her school-record mark in the 400, Dingels also broke her own SMU mark in the high jump (5-2 1/2), while Liss broke her own 200 record with a time of 26.16. And, with a conference relay title already tucked in their back pockets, Mbele, Dingels, Folgers and Liss added a school-record time of 50.05 in the 4 x 100.

Missy Mollick (Hastings, Minn.) and Folgers also posted record-setting performances, clocking times of 12:38.74 in the steeplechase and 15.29 in the 100 hurdles, respectively. On the men's side, Shawn Stewart (McHenry, Ill.) rewrote the SMU record in the 400 hurdles (56.56) and the 4 x 800 relay team of B.J. Klenke (Jordan, Minn.), Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.), Keith Pieschek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Ethan Lane (Winona, Minn.) set a new school mark with a time of 7:59.58.

"We've been getting better every week," Thornton said. "And this was just another sign that we are continuing to make great strides."