LA CROSSE, Wis. — It's called a "Last Chance Meet" for a reason.

It gives collegiate track and field teams one more chance to qualify an individual — or a group of individuals — into the upcoming NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, to be held next Thursday-Saturday at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

And Friday evening, the Saint Mary's University track and field team made the most of its one final opportunity.

The Cardinals provisionally qualified in two events — while also setting a pair of school records — during the UW-La Crosse Last Chance Meet Friday evening.

Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.), a national qualifier a year ago, provisionally put her name into the NCAA field with a time of 4:40.04 in the 1,500 — a time that ranks her 21st in the nation.

The Cardinals' 4 x 400 relay team also made its bid for a spot in next week's national meet, as the foursome of Emily Bartusek (Albert Lea, Minn.), Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.), Autumn Valk () and Maria Roche (Eden Prairie, Minn.) shattered the school mark with a time of 3:56.34 — the first time an SMU relay team had broke the four-minute mark in the school's history.

"It was a great meet for us," said SMU coach Kirk Nauman, noting that Roche also just missed provisionally qualifying in the 800, where she set a new school record with a time of 2:15.98. "To provisionally qualify two more events for nationals is awesome. Ellen ran a great race, and the 4 x 400 was outstanding — they just shattered that school record."

Now the Cardinals must play the waiting game, as they wait until Monday to see if those provisional marks are good enough to earn them an invitation to next week's season-ending event.

"Our times are good," said Nauman. "We'll just have to wait and see."