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SMU at Minn. Open Sat., Jan. 14 |
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Cardinals break two school records at indoor season-opening meet
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Kirk Nauman had a hunch that his Saint Mary's University track and field teams would kick the indoor season off in style Saturday afternoon.
And was he ever right.
Beth Cleveland (Wausau, Wis.) and Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) etched their names in the SMU record book, as the Cardinals opened their season at the University of Minnesota Open.
"Heading into the meet I figured we had a shot at breaking a couple of school records, and we did," said Nauman, who wouldn't admit whether the two records his team broke were the ones he predicted they would. "It was a very good first meet for us — to break two school marks in the first meet is great.
Hopefully we'll see a lot more of that in the future."
And if Nauman's hunches are any indication, Cleveland's and Koranda's names will be etched into the Cardinals record books in pencil, not pen.
Cleveland placed eighth overall in the weight throw with her school-record toss of 47-feet-10, while Koranda earned an eighth-place individual finish in the mile, breaking the school record with a time of 5:13.72.
Amanda Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.) posted a personal-best throw of 40-7 3/4 in placing sixth in the shot put, with teammate Ember Anderson (Blackduck, Minn.) finishing two places back with a throw of 36-11 1/2. Megan Mason (Rochester, Minn.) cleared 5-2 1/4 to take fifth in the high jump, while Autumn Valk (Appleton, Wis.) was sixth in the 60 hurdles (9.63) and Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) was seventh in the 600 (1:40.34).
Dan Gerber (Belvidere, Ill) and Chris Fisette (Elmhurst, Ill.) led the way for the SMU men, with Gerber taking sixth in the 200 (23.46) and Fisette placing seventh in the triple jump (41-6 1/2).
"I'm very happy with our performances," said Nauman. "It was a chance for a lot of our athletes to get their feet wet and get a taste for what the season has in store.
"It was a good, solid start — now, hopefully, we can just keep building on it."