WINONA, Minn. — Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) got the Saint Mary's University women's track and field team off to a flying start as the MIAC Championships last weekend, soaring to a conference-record point total en route to winning the heptathlon.

And the sophomore's feet still haven't touched the ground — which was a good thing for the Cardinals.

Dingels posted a pair of second-place efforts in the high jump and the 400 to lead the Cardinal women to an eighth-place finish at the two-day MIAC Championships at Concordia College.

Dingels, who became SMU's first-ever MIAC record-holder when she bested the conference mark in the heptathlon, cleared 5-3 3/4 in the high jump, then raced to a time of 59.76 en route to her two second-place finishes.

"With the young group that we had competing, I thought we performed very well," said SMU coach Paul Thornton. "(Next year), we return 100 percent of the points we scored at the conference meet, which is pretty exciting.

"We had a number of individuals turn in outstanding performances."

SMU's Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) and Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) also had a hand — or foot — in helping the Cardinals' to their 47.5-point total. Folgers placed second in the 100 hurdles, crossing the finish line in 15.22, while Luehmann placed third in the javelin with a toss of 114-11, just one foot short of her own school record.

Megan Mason (Rochester, Minn.) broke her own school record in the pole vault, finishing fifth with a vault of 10-4 3/4, while Luehmann chipped in a seventh in the discus (116-2) and Folgers and Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) tallied eighth-place efforts in the 400 hurdles (1:07.78) and the 800 (4:55.4), respectively.

The Cardinal men's team settled for an 11th-place showing, as junior Todd Yankowski (Chicago, Ill.) picked up all the team's points with his fourth-place finishes in the decathlon (5,686) and the javelin (158-4).

"The improvement has been there all year — each meet was a stepping stone to the conference meet," Thornton said. "And I thought we saved our best for last."