St. Thomas Men and Concordia Women Lead Team Competition after First Day of MIAC Championships

The 2013 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships began Friday at St. Thomas.  St. Thomas men lead in the team competition with 94 points and Concordia-Moorhead leads the women with 71.  A new women's shot put record was among the first-day highlights.

Hamline's Becky Culp defended her title in the shot put. with a new MIAC meet record of 47'10"/14.58 m. She broke a 16-year-old record, 47'8", set by former Hamline thrower Misty Bahr in 1997.

The Concordia women had a big night in the field events. Senior Kaari Jensen defended her MIAC javelin title with a winning throw of 127'3" (38.80 meters). Jensen, who won her second-straight multi-event title last weekend, outdistanced the rest of the javelin field by nearly eight feet. Teammate Hilary Thompson added another Cobber field-event championship in the long jump, as she recorded a winning distance of 18'1.75" (5.53 meters).

St. Olaf's Emma Lee won the 10K in 35:56.83, and teammate Becca Bevans finished second (36:05.25). The Carleton women successfully defended their title in the 4x800-meter relay, as Sarah Trautman, Colette Celichowski, Ruth Steinke and Haley Johnson finished in 9:13.43 to edge St. Thomas by less than a second.

St. Thomas thrower Abajemo Omot won two men's MIAC titles on Friday. Omot won the hammer throw with a throw of  173'8" (52.95 meters) and added another championship in the discus with a winning distance of 154'(46.94 meters). The Tommies also got a title in the long jump from freshman Charlie Pechous, who jumped 23' .5". Teammate Eyo Ekpo was second, and defending champion Blair Riegel from Gustavus finished fifth.

Ekpo was unseated as the champ in the men's high jump by Macalester freshman Logan Hovie. The Scot rookie and Ekpo both cleared 6'9". Hovie was awarded the title with Ekpo coming in second because Hovie had fewer misses.  The same thing happened in the pole vault. Gustavus' Josh Owens, who was the runner-up in 2012, claimed the title by clearing the bar at 15'5."'( 4.71 m). . Concordia's Erik Olson also cleared 15'5.5" and was awarded second place because Owens had fewer misses.

Saint John's John Subialka won the men's 10K in 31:50.42. The Johnnies also claimed  the men's 4x800-meter relay(Chris Mergens, Eric Mann, Kyle Rossow and Thomas Feichtinger) in 7:45.60.  

The 2013 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will conclude Saturday with events starting at noon.  The schedule  is available HERE.   Heat sheets are HERE. Full men's results are HERE. Women's are HERE.