COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris track & field team set several top-10 performances in school history on Saturday at the CSB-SJU Alumni Meet. In the team standings, the Minnesota Morris women placed second with 63 points and the Minnesota Morris men placed third with 40 points.
"We saw some more really great improvements today," head coach Jessica Devine said. "The focus for this meet was small, simple improvements, and that turned into some big results. We saw fantastic sprint times after a somewhat average week at Concordia last week. Our throwers keep dropping awesome marks, and our distance crew is showing some unexpected speed for this time of year.
"Seeing these kind of performances in week two is really promising. We're readjusting to some tough training and getting back in to routine with classes starting this past week. Our student-athletes are showing a lot of poise and drive and it's paying off!"
Jenna Benson finished second in the women's 60-meter dash with her time of 8.26 and recorded a third-place finish in the women's long jump with a mark of 15-9. Along with Benson in the 60-meter dash, Emily Ciesynski ran the ninth-fastest time in program history (8.42) to finish fourth.
Justin Pearson won the men's 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 22.79, which improves his No. 3 standing in school history, and he took second in the men's 60-meter dash with his time of 7.01. In the women's 200-meter dash, Ciesynski ran a time of 27.63 to tally a runner-up finish.
Kaitlyn Ladwig recorded a time of 2:37.67 to place sixth in the women's 800-meter run and in the men's 800-meter run, Jace Leabo ran 2:17.49 to finish 15th.
Moving up to the mile, Alexa Yeager ran 6:04.63 to place ninth on the women's side and Ryan Anderson posted a time of 4:39.45 to finish fourth in the men's mile.
A week after posting the No. 6 time in school history (11:08.69) in the women's 3,000-meter run, Katherine Novak recorded the fifth-best time in school history (11:03.08) to finish third.
Last weekend, Tyler Sassenberg ran the No. 3 time in school history (9:17.66) in the men's 3,000-meter run and today, he ran the No. 2 time in school history (9:11.39) to place fourth.
Zion Zaloudek recorded a runner-up finish in the men's pole vault with his clearance of 11-7.
In the women's 60-meter hurdles, Brooke Hogan finished third with her time of 9.91.
A day after competing for the swimming team in Moorhead, Minnesota, Sierra Walker finished fifth in the women's high jump with a clearance of 4-6.25. In the men's high jump, Matthew Kingland placed fourth with a height of 5-4.25.
In the women's throws, Jessica Bliese won the shot put with a mark of 38-10.5 and took third in the weight throw with a distance of 42-9.5. With her distance of 38-10.5 in the women's shot put today, Bliese now ranks fourth all-time in school history. Also in the women's shot put, Brennyn DePaulis finished fifth with a distance of 36-11, which ranks eighth all-time in school history.
The men's throws saw Trent Merkins finish fourth in the shot put (42-6.25) and place sixth in the weight throw (42-9).
Minnesota Morris track & field now heads to St. Paul, Minnesota, for the Gene Glader Classic, hosted by Bethel University on Saturday, Feb. 2.
