Staff Writer- Alayna Boe
On Jan. 30th and 31st, the Gustavus track and field team headed to St. Olaf College in Northfield. This two-day meet saw spectacular performances from all 14 teams in attendance. The Gustie men and women got 19 top-three finishes. Friday was the multi showcase, hosting four of the seven men’s heptathlon events and all five of the women’s pentathlon events. Friday night also had the 5000-meter race, weight throw, and men’s pole vault. Saturday saw all the other events, and the whole team headed to Northfield for that.
Multis are only done by a small proportion of athletes, and Gustavus sent five athletes for Friday’s multi events. Senior Maddox Lee, Senior Grace Banse, and Sophomore Emily Podulke competed in the pentathlon Friday evening, while First-year Amos Anderson and Senior Connor McCormick did the heptathlon Friday and Saturday. This array of events and people set up the Gusties for a fun-filled weekend. Anderson competed in his first multi ever over the weekend, and although the nerves were there, it was more excitement than anything else.
Mental toughness was needed to persevere through the long days. “I knew what I expected of myself,” Anderson commented. He placed third in the heptathlon and was led by McCormick. “The only reason I was able to do what I did was because I had somebody to show me the ropes. He’s a great teammate and kept my energy up at all times,” Anderson said.
Finishing off the Friday portion of this two-day meet, Sophomore Alex Palmer pole vaulted a height of 4.10m and finished the men’s competition in fourth place. Rounding out the night in a strong fashion, Senior Will Janzen secured a fourth-place finish with a time of 15:21.39. These heights and times sent the team home feeling optimistic about the full day ahead.
Saturday morning competition started off nice and early as fourteen teams packed into Tostrud Center, all hungry for the competitive day ahead. Leading off at 9:00 a.m., the men’s heptathlon 60-meter hurdles was the first race on the track. McCormick took second in this race and earned 742 points towards his heptathlon total.
Straying away from the multis, men’s shotput, long jump, and high jump started at a crisp 10:00 a.m. and led the way for field events on Saturday. Sophomore Liam Frommelt led the Gusties in the long jump and placed third overall. On the women’s side of things, Sophomore Kayla Kajer reigned victorious in the high jump with a jump of 1.60 meters.
The track events started at 11:00 a.m., and chaos only ensued from there. With everything going on in the event center, energy was high. The men’s 60-meter dash finals were won by Sophomore Frank Terway. With an explosive start out of the blocks, he got out strong and maintained that lead for the rest of the race.
First-year Katja Wallin led the Gusties in the 800-meter run. This run was a close finish with only a second between her and first place. Overall, this run was hard fought, and the podium finish put energy into the distance team in preparation for the 1000 and 3000 meter runs ahead.
First-years Vivian Hatlevig and Alli Keil ran the 3k on Saturday and had the mental blocks that come along with running 15 laps on an indoor track.
Hatlevig was alone for most of her race. “It was definitely harder and mostly mental,” Hatlevig stated. Running alone can be hard, but there is still a crowd of fourteen teams inside the track area, all cheering for each other.
A personal best feels good at all levels, but shaving off 30 seconds is wonderful, and that is what Keil did during Saturday’s race. Her final time was 12:07.02, and her mental toughness was there for the entirety of her race. “It felt great because I felt good that day and I liked that everyone was cheering me on because they all stood on the sidelines cheering for everyone,” Keli stated.
To round off this meet, there was a multitude of 4×200-meter relays. The men’s relay of Junior Tyler Heil, First-year Luke Scheel, Sophomore Conner Martens, and Sophomore Simon Lippert took first with a time of 1:31.14. The relay team placed second overall in the MIAC, trailing St. Olaf by just over a second.
The Gustie men and women have three meets left of the indoor season until the MIAC championships in the last days of February. The teams are striving for the best times, heights, and distances, and will do so by showing up and putting in the work every single day. Go Gusties!