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SMU at Red Hawk Saturday, April 1 |
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THE RESULTS
Men's / Click here Women's / Click here |
Luehmann, Cardinals kick off outdoor season in style at Ripon Invite
RIPON, Wis. — Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) missed the majority of the indoor track and field season. But the Saint Mary's University senior had a good excuse — she was busy becoming the No. 4 all-time scorer in Cardinal women's basketball history.
So when the outdoor season kicked off Saturday afternoon at the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational, Luehmann was determined to make up for lost time.
Which is exactly what she did.
Luehmann broke the school record — and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships — in the shot put to highlight a season-opener to remember for the Cardinals.
If Cardinals coach Kirk Nauman had any fears that his Cardinals would open up the outdoor season a bit rusty, Luehmann and Co. quickly put them to rest.
In fact, the Cardinals appeared in midseason form.
Along with Luehmann's first-place effort in the shot put, in which she posted a record-setting toss of 13.20 meters, SMU amassed seven other first-place finishes — not to mention a handful of seconds and thirds — in their first outdoor showing of the season.
"It was a good start for us," said Nauman. "To get a school record and a provisional qualifier right out of the gate is awesome. The weather wasn't the best for us — chilly and overcast — but we seemed to adjust OK.
"We had a number of great performances on both (the men's and women's) sides," Nauman continued. "I'm very happy with what I saw."
Luehmann's record-setting effort in the shot put fueled a 1-2-3-4 SMU finish in the shot, where Amanda Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.) was second (12.67), followed by Beth Cleveland (Wausau, Wis. / 11.49) and Ember Anderson (Blackduck, Minn. / 11.40). Luehmann added another first in the discus (39.20 meters), while also finishing third in the javelin (32.0 meters).
SMU's other firsts came from Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) in the 400 (58.97) and 400 hurdles (67.19), Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) in the 5,000 (18:44.24), Autumn Valk (Appleton, Wis.) in the 100 hurdles (15.22), and Megan Mason (Rochester, Minn.) in the high jump (1.63).
Dan Gerber (Belvidere, Ill.) led the way for the SMU men, placing second in both the 200 (22.65) and the 400 (52.26), while Ryan Oldsberg (Jordan, Minn.) added a second in the high jump (1.83). Joe Holman (Suamico, Wis.) and Chris Fisette (Elmhurst, Ill.) both posted a pair of fourth-place finishes, with Holman taking fourth in the 110 hurdles (17.35) and 400 hurdles (61.08), while Fisette was fourth in both the long jump and triple jump (12.33).
"This was a good meet for us to start off with," said Nauman. "Everyone was really eager to get the (outdoor) season started, and they all did a nice job."