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Mother Nature can't slow down Cardinals, as SMU teams kick off
2007 outdoor season with solid performance at Ripon Invitational
RIPON, Wis. — There's one major difference between the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons: One is indoor, where the athletes compete in near-perfect conditions; and the other is outdoor, where you not only battled the opposition, but also the elements.
And for the Saint Mary's University track and field teams, the toughest opponent in Saturday's outdoor season opener was definitely Mother Nature.
Despite cool temperatures — not to mention a constant rain and off-and-on thunder and lightning — the Cardinals appeared in mid-season form, collecting five first-place finishes at the Ripon Invitational.
The Cardinal men, led by first-place efforts from Joe Weinmann (Rochester, Minn.), Curtis Van Asten (Shiocton, Wis.) and Derek Wherley (Missoula, Mont.), picked up 98.50 points to place fourth in the eight-team field. The SMU women, meanwhile, managed just one first-place performance — Amanda Weinmann's (Rochester, Minn.) winning effort in the shot put — in settling for eighth overall.
"The conditions were pretty tough — we dodged a few rain drops until late in the afternoon, and then the skies just opened up," said SMU coach Kirk Nauman. "Add to that, the fact that it was very windy, and the conditions were pretty tough."
Joe Weinmann fueled a 1-2 finish in the 400, clocking a time of 51.56 to edge teammate Josiah Ryks (Austin, Minn.), who was second in 52.08. Van Asten, meanwhile, won the 400 hurdles (57.71) and placed third in the 100 hurdles (17.38), while Wherley won the javelin with a throw of 43.79 meters, and the 4x100 relay team added a winning time of 43.84.
Chris Fisette (Elmhurst, Ill.) jumped his way to a second in the triple jump (13.12 meters) and a sixth in the long jump (5.90 meters), then added a fourth-place effort in the 200 (23.42). Dan Gerber (Belvidere, Ill. / 100, 11.46) and John Vallez (Eagan, Minn. / 1,500, 4:12.00) chipped in third-place efforts, while Kevin Hein (Zumbro Falls, Minn.) was fourth in the discus (38.90).
On the women's side, Amanda Weinmann didn't miss a beat following her All-American performance in the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships in early March, as the SMU senior won the shot put (12.71 meters) and placed second in the discus (36.71 meters). Tera Bollig (Cambridge, Minn.) posted a fifth-place time of 5:09.77 in the 1,600, while also adding an eighth-place showing in the 800 (2:33.50). Kathleen Pawlowski (Chicago, Ill.) tallied a fifth in the 400 (66.13) and Teri Heinzen (Marshfield, Wis.) added a sixth in the 100 (13.57) and a ninth in the 200 (27.92).
"This was a meet where we just wanted to get back into a competitive frame of mind. I wasn't concerned about place finishes at all," said Nauman, adding that, because of the school's spring break, he didn't have his entire team at Saturday's meet. "I thought we had some pretty solid performances, but more than anything, it was nice just to get out there and compete in a meet setting.
"This was a good start, and I expect us to only get better from here on out."