|
SMU at U of M Classic Saturday, Jan. 21 |
 at  |
Cardinals' mile record lasts 1 week as Koranda breaks mark again
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University track and field teams are no strangers to competing at the University of Minnesota — after all, the Cardinals were just on the Gophers' Minneapolis campus a week ago.
And while the Cardinals are used to being the little fish in the big pond when it comes to these types of meets, Saturday SMU was really the little fish.
Coach Kirk Nauman took just five athletes to the all-NCAA Division I meet — and left with a school record and several stellar performances.
"It can be a little intimidating competing in a meet like this," said Nauman, whose teams competed in a field that included the University of Minnesota, Iowa and Wyoming, to name a few of the Division I schools in attendance. "We weren't too worried about place finishes and what not, we just wanted to come up and compete against some of the best athletes around."
And compete they did.
Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.), who opened her indoor season with a school-record effort in the mile a week ago, made it 2-for-2 on Saturday, breaking her week-old mark by stopping the clock in 5:10.04 to place seventh overall.
Emily Bartusek (Albert Lea, Minn.) placed eighth in the 400 with a time of 1:00.29, while Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) added a 10th-place time of 2:21.94 in the 800. Bartusek also posted her fastest 200 ever, clocking a 27.29, while Autumn Valk (Appleton, Wis.) turned in a 9.80 in the 60 hurdles and Dan Gerber (Belvidere, Ill.) posted stellar times of 7.44 in the 60 and 23.94 in the 200.
"I'm pretty pleased with our performances," said Nauman. "Ellen ran a great mile and will hopefully keep making strides toward a (national) qualifying time. We didn't have a very big group, but I thought the people who did compete did a nice job. I like the way things are shaping up this early in the season. Now all we have to do is keep it going."