St. Thomas track and field qualified in ten events and scored in six across the men’s and women’s competition during day two of the Summit League championships Friday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Junior Jack Rosner and senior Nate Raddatz took second and third in the men’s decathlon, respectively, and first-year Grayson Spronk took eighth. Rosner broke his own school record with 14.12 seconds while competing in the decathlon 110-meter hurdles.
“It’s a real grueling event, and you know, you have your ups and downs while it’s happening,” men’s coach Pete Wareham said. “So our guys battled really, really hard, and to get three scorers including our top-end guys who are really good, but Grayson Spronk is a freshman. To score is a big deal in such a challenging event.”
Athletes score ten points for taking first place in an event, eight for second place, six for third and one less point each for fourth through eighth.
Also scoring for the men were senior Shane Aberg and first-year Trever Schirmer, who took fifth and sixth in the shot put.
First-year Isaac Nowak earned a point for the Tommies for taking eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The Tommies still sit at fourth place with 40 team points, 25 behind third place and 14 outside of fourth.
Five Tommies qualified for the finals on Saturday across five events.
“When we made the transition from Division III to Division I, we had four or five guys we thought could score in an event, and now we’re getting events where we got two guys in the finals here, two guys in there, three over there,” Wareham said. “So it’s really fun that we’re actually getting the kind of team that can cover a lot of events and put people in scoring positions.”
Rosner and junior Sam Duffing both moved on in the 110 and 400-meter hurdles.
Sophomore Cameron Heppner set a personal record of 1:51.56 to move on to the 800-meter finals.
Sophomore Mitchell Piehl ran the fourth-best 400-meter dash on Friday before also qualifying in the 200-meter dash with junior Isaiah Hopf.
“There was a lot of energy when Mitch Piehl ran his prelim for 200. It just came on in a real exciting moment, so I think there’s a lot of people that that was a highlight for them,” Wareham said.
Before the meet, junior Tony Weeks was recognized as Summit League Scholar of the championship. Weeks holds a 4.0 GPA, the highest of all athletes competing in the meet, according to a press release from St. Thomas athletics.
“Tony is one of many who are really serious about trying to be good in the classroom and be as high-achieving as they can athletically. So it’s fun to see when that all comes together, and we’ve got a lot of guys that think the same way,” Wareham said.
Sophomore Olivia Keller broke her own program record in the heptathlon with a score of 4,767, earning her fifth place.
“She kind of had an obviously long day, finishing multis and then coming back in the long jump … then running the 400 hurdles,” women’s coach Ashley Lucas said.
Junior Molly Desotell set her own personal record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:38.63, earning herself fourth place.
“She was pretty close to the school record but still even just a massive PR and putting points on the board,” Lucas said.
Sophomore Alexis Pratt qualified in both the 100 and 200-meter dash and was joined by sophomore Cassia Cady in the 100-meter dash.
“I don’t want to say it’s a surprise, but Cassia Cady coming in and making the finals of the 100 was probably one of the three biggest highlights,” Lucas said.
First-year Lauren Rott and junior Audrey Hatfield took the last two scoring spots in the shot put at seventh and eighth.
Senior Taynian Walgrave qualified for the 100-meter hurdle finals, while junior Hailey Hindt’s personal record of 1:01.41 was enough to qualify in the 400-meter hurdles.
Junior Alicia Belany was able to just qualify for the 800-meter run with the eighth-best run.
“Any time you get people to the finals, you’re at least guaranteed a point. Obviously our goal is to get more than that tomorrow, but I think it’s kind of that momentum game of: you get one into the final, then the next girl,” Lucas said.
Lucas also noted how important the finals will be for the program’s Division I journey.
“I know a lot of our 2024 commits for next year are coming to watch the meet,” Lucas said. “We’re all about just progress … we’re already closing in on what we would have scored last year with still a lot of points on the board.”
The women’s team is still in fifth place, 28.5 behind fourth place and 18 points ahead of sixth.
“We’re still a very young team, so we really don’t even graduate that many. So we’re just kind of building year in, year out,” Lucas said.
The final day of the Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships starts with the 4×100-meter relay at 1 p.m. Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.