MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — When it came to the Saint Mary’s University men’s and women’s track and field season opener Saturday at the University of Minnesota, head coach Kirk Nauman admitted his team would be the little fish in a big pond.

Nauman’s Cardinals would be the only NCAA Division III team competing at the Minnesota Open, lining up right next to NCAA Division I teams like the University of Minnesota, the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University, not to mention NCAA Division II Concordia-St. Paul.

Despite the competition, and judging by their performances, it was pretty clear that the Cardinals weren't afraid to get its feet wet.

"This meet was really only about seeing where we're at," said Nauman, noting that team scores were not kept at the invitational. "We only brought a handful of athletes — those who were ready for competition — and we ended with some surprises but still found things we need to work on.

"Of course, we didn’t have a lot of personal bests, but a lot of performances will rank in the top five in Saint Mary’s history — that says a lot at this point in the season when our athletes are not in their best shape."

Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) ran her way to a school record for the Cardinal women, clocking 5:28.45 in the mile to place fifth in the nine-person field.

Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) was the only Division III athlete to compete in the 60-meter hurdle final, finishing ninth overall with a time of 9.69, while Amanda Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.) and Beth Cleveland (Wausau, Wis.) also reached their event final, with Weinmann placing ninth in both the shot put (36-3 _) and weight throw (38-11 _) and Cleveland placing seventh in the weight throw (40-7).

"Everyone basically finished ahead of where they were last year at this point in the season," Nauman said, noting SMU also received solid individual performances from Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) in the 600 (1:42.93 / 5th), Tera Bollig (Cambridge, Minn.) in the 3,000 (11:37.14 / 7th), Emily Bartusek (Albert Lea, Minn.) in the 200 (27.56 / 9th) and Becky Baron (Rapid River, Mich.) in the 200 (28.39 / 11th). "Becky and Emily had great performances for their first collegiate meet, and Amanda and Beth’s throws should already qualify them for the conference meet."

On the men’s side, Rob Friendt (Ogden, Utah) led the Cardinals with a third place in the triple jump (41-4 ), while Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) clocked 4:52.67 in the mile for a ninth place finish, Aaron Raulin (Madison, Wis.) chipped in a 12th place in the 800 (2:10.05) and John Pace (Minoqua, Wis.) also placed 12th in the 200 (25.88).

"People definitely shined today, and it gave everyone a starting point to improve on," Nauman said. "Hopefully we'll see some improvements as soon as next Friday (when both the men and women compete at the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invite)."