ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – First-meet jitters didn’t have anything on Claire Baker this weekend.
Baker, a senior on the College of Saint Benedict track and field team, came out strong in the last first meet of her career. Baker recorded a personal best of more than a meter in the weight throw, and moved up into the top four in CSB indoor track and field history. For her big performance in her senior debut, Baker is this week’s CSB Athlete of the Week.
Heading into Saturday’s season-opening meet at Wartburg, Baker’s all-time best in the weight throw was 12.91 meters, a mark she recorded as a sophomore in 2017 at St. Olaf. In her 2018 indoor debut, Baker recorded a mark of 11.37 – just over a meter and a half shy of her personal best. Saturday in Iowa, Baker blew past her personal best. She finished fifth in the weight throw with a mark of 14.21 meters – a 1.30 meter personal best, and 1.42 meters better than her 2018 season-best mark of 12.79 meters.
As well as being a significant personal best, Baker’s big mark also moves her into fourth all-time in CSB indoor history, and is currently fourth-best in the MIAC. She is now just 1.09 meters away from CSB’s indoor weight throw record of 15.30 meters, set in 2014 by Sam Imholte.
Baker also competed in the shot put Saturday afternoon, and finished in 11
th with a toss of 10.86 meters. Her personal best is 11.47 meters, set in 2018 at the conference indoor championships.
Baker and her teammates are back in action and at home for the first time in 2019 this Saturday, Jan. 26, when they host the CSB Alumnae and Triangular at the McNeely Spectrum on the SJU campus. The first events start at 11 a.m.
