WINONA, Minn. — When Kirk Nauman checked Weather.com one last time before leaving for the UM-Duluth Invitational last Wednesday morning, he probably second-guessed his decision to send his Saint Mary's University track and field teams five hours north.

After all, the forecast was for temperatures in the 30s — and when the Cardinals arrived on the UM-D campus, snow flakes were falling.

Three school records and a provisional qualifier, however, certainly made Nauman feel a little better about his decision.

"It was a tough day to compete," said Nauman. "But everyone did a great job, considering it was 30 degrees and snowing."

Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III National Outdoor Championships, blowing away the rest of the field in the 100 hurdles, winning in 15.06.

Dan Gerber (Belvidere, Ill.) chipped in a pair of school records — winning both the 100 (10.93) and the 200 (21.96), while Rob Friendt (Ogden, Utah) shattered the SMU mark in the pole vault by more than two inches, clearing 14-6 to place first.

Yena Phillips (Red Wing, Minn.) added a fourth in the 200 (28.01) and a fifth in the 400 (1:04.26), while Aaron Raulin (Madison, Wis.) added a fifth in the 800, clocking a time of 1:59.98.

"It was good to see us break three school records, and it was great to see Jenny healthy and running the way she is capable," said Nauman. "With the weather forecast the way it was, I wasn't sure coming up (to the Duluth) was such a great idea, but everyone really came through.

"It was a great day."

Speaking of great days, SMU was back at it two days later.

Nauman had a feeling that, by the time the last event was run last Saturday, all five of his SMU relays teams could be coming home from the Drake Relays as school-record holders.

SMU started the two-day event with a record-setting effort in the 4 x 200 on Friday, then closed things out with another record in the sprint medley on Saturday.

It was the three events in between that weren't record-setting caliber.

The Cardinals' 4 x 200 relay team — Autumn Valk (Appleton, Wis.), Megan Moran (Burlington, Wis.), Kelly Tanke (La Crosse, Wis.) and Becky Baron (Rapid River, Mich.) — got things off on the right foot, shattering the school's record by clocking a time of 1:47.90.

Valk then teamed up with Emily Bartusek (Albert Lea, Minn.), Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) and Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) to close things out with an equally impressive bang, breaking the sprint medley school record by nearly eight seconds, breaking the tape in 4:08.44.

"It was a great way to end our performance (at the Drake Relays)," said Nauman. "(The sprint medley) had an outstanding performance — as did our 4 x 200 (team)," Nauman added. "Overall, I was very happy with the way we performed. We would have loved to have been able to come home with five school records, but just because we didn't, doesn't mean we didn't run well — it was a solid performance from everyone."

SMU's distance medley team narrowly missed the school mark, as the team of Tera Bollig (Cambridge, Minn.), Bartusek, Roche and Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) posted a time of 12:27.06, just seconds off the school's two-year-old record.

And the 4 x 100 team of Valk, Moran, Dingels and Baron narrowly missed the school record when they stopped the clock in 50.47, while the 4 x 400 team of Valk, Dingels, Bartusek and Roche broke the tape in 4:07.53, well back of the school's best time.

"For us to break six records in a four-day span is a great accomplishment," said Nauman, noting that Beth Cleveland (Wausau, Wis.) picked up record No. 6 on Saturday, tossing the hammer 137-2 at the Drake Relays Alternative at Gustavus. "The conference championshps are coming up in less than two weeks, and this is the kind of momentum I want to see heading into that meet."