Freshman Bailey Cook’s first-place finish in the high jump and Taylor Berg’s 5,000-meter race victory led the way for the St. Thomas women’s track and field team at Friday’s unscored St. Thomas Invite in the Anderson Field House.
Patrick Ecklund took first place in the men’s 1,000-meter run finishing in 3:09.05 to spark the men’s team.
St. Thomas faced athletes from the University of Minnesota, Minnesota State University-Mankato, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin-Stevens Point and several MIAC schools.
“Most every field has tough competition from Division I, II and III,” men’s coach Steve Mathre said. “The combination of confidence and stress helps them perform at their best when championships come around.”
The men’s team entered the invite ranked fifth in the nation. Berg and Cook were named MIAC track and field athletes of the week Monday.
“Whenever we see tough competition early on, it helps us going into conference play,” women’s coach Joe Sweeney said. “It’s good for our team to compete with some of the best athletes.”
Dylan Baumann and Nicholas Jackson’s second- and third-place finishes in the 3,000-meter race played a big role for the Tommie men. In the men’s mile run, Keaton Wendroth finished second in 4:19.19. Doug Thoreson took second place in the 400-meter dash, coming across the finish line at 49.77.
In the men’s shot put, Bryan Thell, Abajemo Omot and Devin Dirth placed third, fourth and fifth for the Tommies. Jordan Godejahn led the way in the long jump, taking fourth place with 6.29. In the triple jump, Christian Roemhildt finished fourth with 12.32 meters.
For the women’s field events, Haley Zajac took sixth in the women’s shot put with 11.27 meters. In the triple jump, Kristie Miller placed fifth at 9.80 meters. Abby Baier finished fourth in the pole vault at 2.90 meters.
“This was a good meet for us to compete at a high level,” Max Dunne said. “Hopefully we’ll be at our best toward the end of the season.”
The Tommies compete every weekend through the rest of the school year and will be in action Feb. 15 at the University of Minnesota Snowshoe Open.
Kyle Jonas can be reached at jona7984@stthomas.edu.