Minnesota Morris captures first UMAC women's outdoor title since 2004
MORRIS, Minn.--- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Women's Track and Field Championships couldn't have gone better for the host school Unviersity of Minnesota Morris as it captured its first conference championship since 2004 Saturday afternoon.
The College of St. Scholastica was unseated from the UMAC throne after winning 11-straight outdoor titles. The Cougars used a team score of 254 to edge out the Saints who collected 216 points.
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Final Results |
Minnesota Morris made it a clean sweep of all the relay when they took the titles in both the 4 x 100-meter and 4 x 400-meter events Saturday. In the opening spring relay, the Cougars clocked a time of 49.55 before ending the running events with a winning time of 4:05.04 in the four-lap race.
The Cougars also won the two sprint events on the day with senior Teja Foy clocking a time of 12.42 in the 100-meter dash to close out her successful career with two wins at the meet. Junior Sidney Paulson took first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.25 winning by just over half of a second.
Sami Brinkmann also claimed her second victory of the weekend for the Cougars. This time, she took the discus throw with a mark of 34.69 (113-10).
The top individual performances came from St. Scholastica's Casey Hovland who won two event and set a new meet record in the 1,500-meter run. The sophomore edged out Unviersity of Wisconsin-Superior star Kelli Praska when she crossed the line in 4:47.35 to take home her first win Saturday. Then, Hovland shined in the 5,000-meter run capturing victory with a time of 18:15.02.
The Saints had their share of other winners including a win in the high jump standout Nicole Christianson. The senior defended her title in the event with a jump of 1.66 meters (5-5.25) that was over four inches better than the runner up.
Hannah Russert also won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.09, but did not set a new record due to wind. FIrst-year Emily Conley also added a win for the Saints taking the shot put with a mark of 12.10 meters (39-8.5).
Wisconsin-Superior had another spectacular performance from Svenja Ruehl who won her second crown of the meet taking the triple jump. The sophomore used a jump of 11.47 meters (37-7.75) to beat out the field.
Wisconsin-Superior finished third with a score of 119, while Bethany Lutheran College wasn't far behind with a score 97. Martin Luther College tallied 49 points for fifth, while the University of Northwestern-St. Paul was sixth with 14 points and Crown College was seventh with four points.
2016 UMAC Championships Site