Aba Omot’s first-place victory in the hammer throw at 52.95 meters helped lead the St. Thomas track and field teams on the first of the two-day MIAC championship meet Friday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The 11 men’s and 12 women’s MIAC teams will compete again Saturday to conclude the second half of the meet.

For men’s coach Steve Mathre, competing at home was beneficial.

“We’re just excited to be at home with a beautiful night like this; it’s what track it all about and under the lights,” Mathre said. “It’s a great day to be a Tommie.”

Men’s throwers shine on day one

Following Omot’s solid finish in the hammer throw, teammate Bryan Thell came in second at 50.84 meter. Omot went on to clinch first in the discus throw when he launched the disc 46.94 meters.

After a neck-in-neck duel between Eyo Ekpo and Macalester jumper Logan Hovie in the high jump, Ekpo finished in second place with his jump at 2.06 meters.

Max Dunne said he is proud of the Tommies’ first day of competition.

“A lot of people stepped up and have been coming in hard and they’re doing better than they’re supposed to,” Dunne said.

On the track, Alex Schroeder’s time of 4:10.49 in the 1,500-meter run was fast enough to qualify for the final race Saturday. Teammates Samual Bach, Dan Kremer, Will Roberson and Doug Mueller ran a 7:52.29 time to take fourth in the 4×800 meter relay.

Cody Jerabek had the fastest time in the 100 meter dash prelims with 10.90 seconds. Jerabek later went on to qualify for the 200 meter dash finals with a 21.90, the second-best time in prelims.

Charlie Pechous took first place in the long jump with 7.02 meters. Ekpo came in a close second at 6.87 meters. Dunne posted a 4.61 meter pole vault finish.

Dunne said despite his success, he is looking forward to a new day of competition Saturday.

“I think I did really well for the amount of practice I’ve had because of the bad weather,” Dunne said. “I always want to do better, but I’m happy with that.”

Several women qualify for finals

Taylor Berg qualified for the 1,500 meter finals with 4:50.52, helping the Tommie women end the first day of competition moving in the right direction.

Berg carried her success over into the 4×800 meter relay with a second-place finish of 9:14.81 minutes. Berg was accompanied by teammates Annie Keller, Emily Gapinski and Aimee Junget.

Teammates Mallory Burnham, Emily Van Heel, Christina Rozeske and Angela Tipp kept the Tommies’ momentum in the 4×100 with their 47.17 second nationally qualifying time, eliminating the previous meet record of 47.84 set in 2008.

Tipp said the team started the meet with a bang.

“Overall, we’ve done very well, we’ve come strong,” Tipp said. “We do this every conference, hope for the best, and I think we did bring it today.”

Mallory Burnham ran the fastest time in 100-meter hurdles and qualified for finals with her 14.98 finish. Burnham then went on to advance in the 100-meter dash with her time of 12.66 seconds, finishing closely behind teammate Erika Tipp’s 12.42 second time. Rozeske also qualified for the 100-meter final with a time of 12.75.

In the 800-meter run, Kayla Goeman’s 2:18.31 time landed her in Saturday’s final. The 200 meter-dash will feature three Tommies: Van Heel, Angela Tipp and Erika Tipp.

Gabrielle Pepin stepped up for the Tommies in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 37:37.12 minutes, securing a third-place finish.

In the 400-meter run, Angela Tipp ran a 56.70 to qualify for finals, heading into tomorrow as the fastest runner in that event.

For Angela Tipp, she said her success was fueled by the fans.

“I’ve never run a 400 that fast and that’s the best finish I’ve ever felt, I for once did not feel tired,” Tipp said. “I had people around the track the entire way yelling at me so I think that really helped a lot.”

Mathre said he is pleased with the team’s performance at the end of the day.

“We had some kids that really stepped up and either did what they thought they could do and lived up to their potential or really stepped up and had a big performance that surprised themselves and us,” Mathre said. “We’re having a good day.”

Sean Crotty can be reached at crot0230@stthomas.edu.