|
SMU at MIAC Thur.-Sat., March 2-4 Northfield, Minn. |
 |
Pace sets the pace as SMU breaks 3 school records, adds 1 more
to NCAA qualifying list during second day of MIAC Championships
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Jon Pace (Minocqua, Wis.) got the ball rolling, and the rest of the Saint Mary's University track and field teams simply followed his lead Friday at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.
Pace, who opened the two-day heptathlon event with personal-bests in three of Thursday's four events, picked up right where he left off on Friday, posting times of 9.40 and 3:00.07 in the 55 hurdles and 1,000, respectively, while also adding a first-place leap of 3.83 meters in the pole vault en route to his sixth-place finish and 3,904 point total — more than 500 points better than his performance a year ago.
"Jon had a great first day, and never slowed down (on Friday)," said Nauman. "To improve by 500 points, that's a huge jump. Jon had personal-bests in five of his seven events, which is amazing.
"I couldn't ask any more of him."
Or the rest of his Cardinal teammates.
The Cardinal women shattered three school records — and notched a seventh NCAA Division III indoor national qualifier — in posting 47 first-day points.
"It was a good start," said Nauman, who watched Amanda Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.) become national qualifier No. 7 with a school-record throw of 15.34 meters in the weight throw. "We're ahead of the pace we set last year (when the Cardinals fourth — their highest finish ever), which is good to see. We got a number of outstanding individual performances, and, hopefully, we can pick up right where we left off (Saturday)."
Along with Weinmann's record-setting toss in the weight throw, SMU also got school-record performances from Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) in the mile (5:06.34) and Katie Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) in the 5K (18:49.36). Koranda's effort was good for second overall, while Boisjolie was eighth in the 5K.
Beth Cleveland (Wausau, Wis.), who had previously held the SMU record in the weight throw, finished third to Weinmann in the event on Friday with a toss of 14.69, while Autumn Valk (Appleton, Wis.) was second in the 55 hurdles (8.53), and Emily Bartusek (Albert Lea, Minn.) and Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) finished third (59.02) and fifth (59.47) in the 400.
"I'm very happy with our performance," said Nauman. "(Saturday's) another day — and another opportunity for us to shine."