SUPERIOR, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's track & field team became the first program other than the College of St. Scholastica to win the UMAC women's indoor title on Saturday, totaling 139 points and defeating six other schools along the way.
Jessica Bliese was the winner of two events and the Cougars had three other individual conference champions as well.
Bliese won both throwing events on the day, producing the second-best throw in the shot put in school history with a winning distance of 43-3.75 (13.20 meters). In the weight throw, she was just shy of her PR, but still won comfortably with a distance of 49-7 (15.11 meters).
The Cougars had two other conference champions in field events.
Jenna Benson claimed the long jump title at 14-10.75 (4.54 meters) and
Jasmine Terry was the winner of the high jump by virtue of clearing 4-10.25 (1.48 meters) on her first attempt, while it took runner-up Lexi Erickson of St. Scholastica three tries to clear the bar at that height.
On the track,
McKenna Langerud won the 5,000 Meter Run in a time of 20:01.46, besting the field by more than 24 seconds and going into the program record books with the seventh-fastest time in the event.
It took a total team effort to knock St. Scholastica off its perch and many contributed to UMN Morris' final point total. In the 60 Meter Dash, the Cougars had a 2-3-4 finish with Benson (8.46), Terry (8.52), and
Lydia Gross (8.63) all notching high finishes. Terry and Gross also both scored in the 200 Meter Dash with Terry in fourth (28.63) and Gross in sixth (29.70).
In distance events,
Kaitlyn Ladwig placed third in the 3,000 Meter Run (12:14.88) and also was sixth in the 800 Meters (2:37.07). Langerud added onto her victory in the 5,000 Meters with a runner-up finish in the Mile (5:32.39), while teammate
Alexa Yeager took fourth (5:54.61).
Chloe Haven (12:31.81) and
Amelia Lund (14:.04.37) tallied points in the 3,000 Meter Run also, taking fourth and fifth, respectively. Haven added a fifth-place finish in the 5,000 Meters (21:41.19).
A pair of relay teams scored significant points for Minnesota Morris on the day. The 4 x 400 Meter Relay team of Terry, Yeager, Gross, and Ladwig was third in 4:48.95. The Distance Medley team of Yeager, Ladwig,
Taylor Prieve, and Langerud finished second in 14:30.51.
Other top field event finishes included a second-place finish from
Clara Harter in the pole vault, clearing 8-4.75 (2.56 meters). Scoring points behind Bliese in the shot put were
Hailey Gill in third (37-10.50, 11.54 meters),
Jenica Moes in fourth (35-11.25, 10.95 meters), and
Kari Didier in sixth (33-1.75, 10.10 meters). In the weight throw, Gill was fourth (43-8.50, 13.32 meters) and Didier ended in fifth (40-11, 12.47 meters).
St. Scholastica ended in second in the final team standings with 115 points and the University of Northwestern came in third with 84 points. Crown College was fourth (61), Bethany Lutheran College was fifth (50), the University of Wisconsin-Superior ended in sixth (44), and North Central University finished seventh (18).
