St ThomasSweeps Men's and Women's Crowns at MIAC Championships

St. Thomas 2013 MIAC Men's Outdoor Track and Field Champions
Photo courtesy of Mike Ekern/University of St. Thomas

Performing on their home track, the University of St.Thomas swept the men's and women's MIAC titles.  The men won their 31st outdoor title, second in a row, with 186 points. Steve Mathre's team defeated second-place Saint John's - which interrupted a Tommie streak of five titles in six years in 2010, by 70 points. Bethel was third with 103.5 points. St. Olaf finished fourth with 93.5 points and Hamline was next with with 86 points. Carleton had 80, Gustavus has 72.5, Concordia  45.5 , Macalester  37, Augsburg  25 points and Saint Mary's  9 points.

The UST women won their ninth-straight conference title, 29th overall as they have won 29 of the 32 outdoor titles in league history. The Tommies scored 140.5 points to beat runner up Concordia-Moorhead by 28.5. St. Olaf (104) edged Saint Benedict (100) for third place, and Hamline (93.5) rounded out the top five. Gustavus had 81.5 points in sixth. Carleton's 73 in seventh place. Bethel (47.5) edged Macalester (47.0) by a half-point for eighth. Augsburg was ninth with a total of 39.5, followed by St. Catherine (13.5) and Saint Mary's (9). 
 
For the men, St. Thomas junior Cody Jerabek won both sprints, defending his title in the 100 in 10.71(wind-aided) and adding a win in the 200(21.76, also wind aided).  UST senior Eyo Ekpo added one final highlight to his  MIAC career by winning the triple jump championship with a leap of 45'3.75"/13.81m. Ekpo has won the MIAC Outstanding Field Athlete honor once and all four years at the indoor meet.
 
St. Thomas' Bryan Thell won the shot put (50'9.5"/15.48 m) and Brian Jarvey  the men's 400(48.65), who beat defending champion Rob LeMay of Bethel (48.87) by a narrow margin.  The Royals'  Jordan Anderson, Nate Sayler, Zach Barringer and Ian Moorewon won the 4x100-meter relay in 42.72. Their teammate Mark Rice triumphed in the 400 hurdles in 53.92. Bethel  finished  the meet by winning the men's 4x400 relay in3:20.03.
 
St. Olaf  had a pair of individual event champs Friday, both in the middle distance and distance events. Junior Brian Saksa won the 1,500 with in 4:09.39, and sophomore Grant Wintheiser, the 2012 MIAC XC champ,  took the title  5K in 14:54.62.  Carleton's Marcus Huderle successfully defended his conference championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Knights' junior claimed his second-straight steeple title with a time of 9:23.95.
 
The Johnnies' runner-up finish was helped by freshman Thomas Feichtinger's win in the 800 in 2:00.43. Hamline sophomore Eric Hanson won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.22 (wind-aided) and Gustavus' Ryan Ness won the  javelin. Ness' winning throw traveled 182-10 (55.74 meters). Men's results are HERE. 

St. Thomas 2013 MIAC Women's Outdoor Track and Field Champions
Photo courtesy of Mike Ekern/University of St. Thomas

 After one meet record fell Friday, another was broken Saturday - again in a field event. Gustavus' Allyson Voss won her second-straight MIAC outdoor pole vault championship with a new MIAC meet record of 12'5.5"/3.80m, breaking the previous best, which was 12'5.25", set by St. Thomas' Karolien Bastiaens in 2003.  UST Senior Taylor Berg closed her MIAC career with two titles, including her second-straight championship in the 1,500. The 2012 MIAC cross country champ and 2013 Outstanding Indoor Track Athlete recorded ran  4:41.48. She also won the 5K in 17:55.59.
 
Teammate Angela Tipp won the 400(58.58) and anchoring the first-place 4x100 relay (48.72) with . Mallory Burnham, Emily Van Heel and Christina Rozeske. Burnham won the 100-meter hurdles (14.71 wind-aided). Kayla Goeman triumphed in the 800(2:17.24).  Tipp, Aimee Junget, Goeman and Van Heel also combined to win the 4x400 relay in 4:00.28.
 
Augsburg sprinter Ashley Carney, a senior, won the 100(12.46 wind-aided) and 200(25.20 wind-aided) for the second year in a row. Hamline's throwers grabbedtitles in the hammer throw and discus. A day after she set a MIAC meet record in the shot put, Piper senior Becky Culp won her second-straight championship in the discus with a throw of 144'11"/44.18m. Teammate Shawny Kramer won her second-straight hammer throw title with a toss of 170'4"/51.93meters.
 
The Cobbers continued a great weekend in the field events with Hilary Thompson winning the triple jump by hop, skip, and jumping 38'6".  St. Olaf's Dani Larson won the high jump, after finishing second a year ago, by clearing the bar at 5'5". Carleton a freshman Ruth Steinke won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:18.27. Women's results are HERE.

The top three individuals in each event and the first-place relay team automatically earn All-Conference honors, and the fourth- through sixth-place finishers in each open event and second- through sixth-place relay teams will all be named All-Conference Honorable Mention. Top individual honors will be announced later this week.