The Gustavus Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams both competed at the Minnesota State University Spring Invitational last Wednesday, with both teams notching multiple top performances and notable finishes.

Despite a cancellation the week before due to snow, the Gusties remained resilient, despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions.

“It’s difficult, you have to prepare yourself. Since it was the first meet outdoors, no one really cared about the weather. We came prepared and we just had to get our minds right and warm up properly,” Junior Michael Hensch said.

In the women’s events, the Gusties dominated the 5,000 meter run with Seniors Sadie Klug and Olivia Rosenow, Junior Megan Weaver and Sophomore Sarah Anderson placing first through fourth, respectively.

Multiple Gusties also recorded several second place finishes with Junior MaKayla Stowell finishing second in the 100-meter dash, Abbie Schnabel in the 800-meter and First-year DeAnna Giles in the triple jump.

Also, recording a runner-up finish was Sophomore Alex Anderson in the high jump followed by third place finish from First-year Tyra Ericson.

“It was good for us. It was really nice to get out and compete. I think it just went well across the board, everyone performed and it was a good first meet,” Hensch said.

Sophomores Lily Anderson and Tierney Winter also recorded third place finishes in the 400-meter run and 1,500 meter run, respectively.

Senior thrower Marisa Morgan placed first in the javelin while recording the second best throw of her career at 125-9.

In the men’s competition, Gustavus was led by two first place finishes from the likes of Hensch and First-year Taylor Rooney.

Hensch is also coming off a trip to Missouri on March 31 where he and Junior Bobby Verchota represented Gustavus at the Drury Hotels Joey Haines Invite.

Hensch’s best performance was in the javelin where he took fourth with a 183 foot throw. Verchota took 13th in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.86.

“It was almost all Division I competition so it was good for us to go down there and see some better class athletes and compete with them. It was fun to compete against the top divisions and we did pretty well,” Hensch said.

In Mankato, Hensch led the Gustie throwers by placing first in the hammer throw at 178-11, second in the shot put with a 46-9 and fourth in the discus with a throw of 141-1.

On the track, Rooney registered a pair of first place finishes in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.82 and the high jump with a height of 6-0.5.

Finishing second to Rooney in the high jump was Junior Nelson Finne with a leap of 5-10.5.

Finne also placed second in the javelin at 127-4.

Also adding a top performance was Verchota whose time of 52.02 in the 400 meter dash was good for third place as well as a career-best.

In the 800-meter run, Freshman Brennan Gustafson and Junior Ben Madigan finished third and fourth, respectively while Sophomore Matthew Montplaisir had a career-best long jump of 19-7 to land in fourth place.

The Gusties also dominated the 5,000 meter run, with Freshmen Jeremy Gilbertson, Nick Kerbeshian, Andrew Stumbo and Junior Alex Wischnack finishing second through fourth, respectively.

Looking forward into the rest of the season and further, the Gustie track teams appear to have bright futures.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the younger athletes really step up. They have really been working their butts off,” Hensch said.

Next up, Gustavus will travel to Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday.

This meet will replace the Gustavus Invitational on the schedule, which was cancelled due to weather conditions.