St. Scholastica women hold narrow lead in UMAC Women's Indoor Championship meet
DULUTH, Minn.---Since the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) has had an Indoor Track and Field Championship meet, the College of St. Scholastica has won every women's team title to date. After one day of competition, it appears the Saints could lock up another title but hold just a narrow lead heading into day two Saturday.
The Saints top the team standings with 74.5 points, but the University of Wisconsin-Superior is just behind with 63 points. Bethany Lutheran College also remains in the conversation for a title with 61.5 points in third.
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Day One Results |
The lone UMAC record of the day, though, belonged to the University of Minnesota Morris in the distance medley relay. The Cougars raced to a time of 13:07.99 that was just under 10 seconds faster than the team's record-setting performance from last season.
The meet saw several repeat individual champions in the 5,000-meter run, the weight throw and the long jump. After taking the 2016 cross country title, Casey Hovland of St. Scholastica repeated as UMAC champion in the meet's longest distance race with a time of 18:24.08 in just her first appearance in a race this indoor season.
In the weight throw, Minnesota Morris field star Sami Brinkmann defended her conference crown with a solid win. The junior tossed 14.73 (48-4) which was well over a foot from the next-best mark.
Last year's outstanding Field Athlete of the Meet Svenja Ruehl again won the long jump for her first victory of the weekend. She jumped 5.26 meters (17-3.25) which was 0.25 meters better than the runner up. Ruehl also ran the fastest 60-meter time in prelims clocking 8.24. The junior was also second in the 60-meter hurdle prelims behind St. Scholastica's Hannah Russert who ran 9.37.
Taylor Gibson of St. Scholastica captured her first title of the weekend in the 400-meter dash by just over two-tenths of a second to beat Leann Torgerson of Bethany Lutheran College. Gibson crossed the line in 1:00.51 to earn another victory for the Saints.
Rookie Megan Rutt added to Bethany Lutheran's improved team performances by winning the high jump. The first-year cleared 1.50 meters (4-11) to win her first event and help add to the Vikings team score.
The Saints finished their strong start with a repeat win in the 4 x 200-relay. The team of four finished in 1:49.11 to end an exciting first day of action.
In addition to the top three teams in the standings, Minnesota Morris sits in fourth with 45 points, while the University of Northwestern is fifth with nine points.
Day two of the championships are slated to start at 12 p.m. on Saturday. All meet information including ticket information, meet schedule, meet information and more can be found on the
UMAC championship site.
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2017 UMAC Championship site