Gustavus track and field traveled to Macalester College this past Saturday for the MIAC indoor championships where they placed sixth out of eleven teams with a score of 61 points.

The Gusties sat in seventh place following the first day of competition on Friday, tallying 31 points on top of a record setting performance by Freshman Taylor Rooney.

Rooney broke a six year record in the 60 meter hurdles, racing to an official time of 8.15, besting the former record of 8.40 set in 2012. Rooney accounted for 10 of the Gusties 31 points.

Other point scorers of the day included Juniors Ben Madrigal and Michael Hensch, who both had fourth place finishes in the 800 meter dash and the weight throw, respectively. Both Gusties contributed five points to the team’s final total.

“We had some strong showings today, I think tomorrow is going to be a big day for us, we didn’t have everyone run full-tilt today,” Head Coach Dale Bahr said.

Junior Nelson Finne tallied 3 points for the Black and Gold in the heptathlon, placing sixth overall, with his top performance coming In the high jump where he tied for second.

Senior Ryley Sandberg came in seventh with a mile run of 4:24.98 and Freshman Andrew Stumbo finished sixth in the 5,000 meter with a time of 15:24.79.

“I’m very proud of what the men did, everybody bought into the team’s concept, went out and competed hard.” — Coach Bahr

The relay team also placed sixth for the Gusties, recording a time of 10:47.09 in the distance medley.

Returning to the Leonard Center for day two, Gustavus recorded 30 to move up to sixth place in the final day of competition.

Rooney continued to pace the Gusties into day two, setting a school record in the high-jump with a leap of 6-08.00 and scoring ten points.

Hensch’s shot put throw of 56 feet led the event, besting the next best throw by two feet. It was also a career best for Hensch.

Stumbo continued to add points in the long distance events, tallying two in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 8:49.34, placing sixth.

The 4×400-meter relay team also added six points in a third place finish. Their time of 3:27.90 was also a season-high.

“I’m very proud of what the men did, everybody bought in to the team’s concept, went out and competed hard,” Bahr said.

The women’s track and field team also impressed on their first day of competition, sitting in fourth place. They were fueled by multiple top five finishes.

The relay team finished first in the distance medley with a time of 12:37.74, edging Carleton by a mere two tenths of a second. Their top finish earned ten of the Gusties 49 points during the first day of competition.

The top individual performance of the day came from Sophomore Alex Anderson who placed second in the high jump with a max height of 5-4.25.

Junior McKayla Stowell placed third in the 60 meter dash at 7.80 while Senior Olivia Rosenow and Sophomore Katie Keelin also placed third in the 5000 meter and weight throw, respectively. Each earned the Gusties six points. Junior Bailey Van Den Heuvel added five points as she finished fourth behind Keelin.

Also scoring for Gustavus was Junior Abbie Schnabel in the 800 meter where she added five points. Her fourth place time of 2:18.30 broke a school record set in 2008.

Sophomore Tierney Winter and Senior Sadie Novak-Slug also added to the Gusties total, recording mile times of 5:12.15 and 5:14.48, placing seventh and eighth respectively.

“We always talk about teams leaving points on the table and us rising to the occasion to get those points and I think our women did a tremendous job of going out there and making sure other teams didn’t get those points,” Bahr said.

In the second day of competition, the Gusties added on 15 points, dropping to a seventh place finish.

The relay team continued to produce going into day two, placing first in the distance medley and sixth in the 4×400-meter relay.

“Overall, they competed hard and I have no doubt they gave us their best performance.” — Coach Bahr

The trio of Schnabel, Hayes and Winter places sixth, seventh and eighth respectively for a combined six points in the 1,000 meter run. Klug and Freshman DeAnna Giles also scored with Klug finishing sixth in the 3000 meter run and Giles placing fifth with a score of 34-07.00.

“Overall, they competed hard and I have no doubt they gave us their best performance. We got seven more points than we were scheduled to get, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to move up from where we were projected. However, they held their ground and got some more points,” Dale said.

Next up for the two teams is their outdoor season opener at St. John’s University on March 29.