The men’s and women’s track and field teams are gearing up for the MIAC indoor championships Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 at Macalester. The track and field team has a long history of performing well at this meet. Last season the team placed atop team standings in 11 of the 21 events.
So far this season, the team placed first at the St. Olaf quadrangler and second at the Wartburg select meet, among other triumphs. Eric Holst, a thrower and MIAC athlete of the week, broke a 25-year-old St. Thomas record in the weight throw at the U of M Gopher Snowshoe open. He placed second, throwing 62.99 feet for finals in the 20-man-field, above three Gopher throwers.
“As soon as I let go, I knew it was big, and when I heard the mark I felt both really happy and kind of a sigh of relief,” Holst said. “Now I could stop worrying about that and focus on throwing big at nationals.”
Mid-distance runner Hannah Helstad is also finding her focus. Helstad alongside fellow senior runners Jenny Walz, Brielle Bierman and Ali Glassbrenner clocked an 11:54 in the distance medley, which will convert to 11:47 as a NCAA qualifying time.
“I have a lot of goals set for myself for the remainder of the season,” Helstad said, “but the primary goal is to approach each race with the mentality of going from gun (start) to finish with my full efforts on serving the team and being the competitor they need.”
Before team members can set their eyes on nationals, they have the conference title to compete for first.
“Obviously, winning conference would be great,” Holst said. “ So until then I’m just trying to taper off and stay healthy and uninjured so I can ball out in Alabama.”
Another key competitor is jumper Conor White, who won the long jump on Feb. 16 at the showcase. This performance placed him as tenth-best DIII long-jumper in the country. He was also honored with the MIAC athlete of the week.
“The goal for the upcoming meet is to go out and execute,” White said. White noted the importance of marking legal jumps in order to secure the conference title.
“Doing that will enable any goals on the national level, we just need to take things one week at a time.”
Sprinter Katie Murray noted that track and field has depth in almost every event. Murray holds eighth place rank nationally in the 200 meter dash.
“If my teammates and I are able to win the 4×200 relay that we’ll run Saturday,” Murray said, “it’d be our third year in a row winning it during my time here at UST.”
If the team earns the conference title, it will head south to compete in Birmingham, Alabama in the NCAA indoor championships starting March 9.
“We hope to secure some national qualifying spots with performances at conference,” women’s coach Joe Sweeney said, “qualifying up to 4-6 individuals to go along with our Distance Medley Relay.”
MacKenzie Bailey can be reached at Bail7757@stthomas.edu