SMU Track & Field

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Saint Mary's University track and field coach Kirk Nauman had one wish as his teams kicked off the 2007 indoor season — pick up where they left off at the end of the outdoor season a year ago.

And pick up they did.

SMU closed out the 2006 outdoor season with three national qualifiers, not to mention a pair of All-Americans.

On Saturday, the Cardinals opened the 2007 indoor season with a pair of provisional qualifiers and a new school record holder at the University of Minnesota's Northwest Open.

"What a great way to get the season going," said Nauman. "This is my fourth season here and I have never seen us perform as well as we did today in a season-opening meet. To open the year with two provisional qualifiers, that's outstanding.

"And, hopefully, it's just a sign of things to come."

Amanda Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.), who qualified for both the indoor and outdoor national championships a year ago, earning All-American honors in the shot put at the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, certainly picked up where she left off, provisionally qualifying for the national championships in both the shot put and the weight throw.

Weinmann uncorked a toss of 14.93 to place fifth in the weight throw, while adding a provisional-qualifying throw of 12.77 in the shot put.

Chris Fisette (Elmhurst, Ill.) joined Weinmann on center stage Saturday, as the Cardinal sophomore broke the eight-year-old school record in the triple jump, posting a leap of 12.95 meters to place second overall.

"This is exactly the kind of meet we were hoping for," said Nauman, who also got sixth- and eighth-place times of 52.66 and 52.94 from Joe Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.) and Josiah Ryks (Austin, Minn.) in the 400. "We had some great performances from our top returners, and a number of newcomers got their first taste of collegiate track and field — and they performed very well.

"Hopefully we can continue to build on this performance and keep getting better every week."