ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – As a whole, the College of Saint Benedict track and field team recorded plenty collegiate-best performances at the 2020 MIAC Indoor Championships at the end of February.
One group that experienced plenty of success over the course of the two-day meet – held at the Palaestra on the SJU campus – was the team’s throwers. Saint Benedict had two throwers competing in the shot put and four more in the weight throw – plus one competing in the shot put via the pentathlon – and five of those seven recorded personal-best marks to wrap up the 2020 indoor season.
Sophomore Stephanie Pickthorn kicked off the conference meet with the five-event pentathlon on Feb. 27. En route to taking fifth in the event, Pickthorn recorded a career-best mark of 9.44 meters – good for seventh in the pentathlon field. That marked a two-centimeter best.
On Friday, CSB’s athletes competing in the weight throw stepped up amidst some tough competition. Leading the way for the group was sophomore Maggie Beckmann, who finished 10
th in the event with a mark of 13.35 meters. That marked just the second time she had surpassed the 13-meter mark, with the first coming the week earlier at St. Olaf. Beckmann – who moved into seventh in program history with her MIAC mark – recorded new career-best marks five times in her sophomore season.
Junior Monica Monson reached the 12-meter milestone for the first time in her career, finishing 15
th with a mark of 12.36 meters. That was a half-meter personal best, with her previous best of 11.87 meters coming at St. Olaf. She recorded a personal-best mark five times this past season. Sophomore Lara Manikowski also had the best day of her career, finishing 16
th with a mark of 11.90 meters. Her previous best was 11.71 meters, recorded in late January at the CSB/SJU Invite.
To wrap up the meet, first year Kendall Bechtold hit the 11-meter mark for the first time in her career on Feb. 29. Her toss of 11.16 meters was good for 14
th at the conference meet, and more than 30 centimeters better than her previous best of 10.72.
