ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After a successful start to the outdoor track season in Iowa last week, the College of Saint Benedict Track and Field team will look to continue their positive momentum at the University of St. Thomas Tomcat Invitational in Saint Paul, Minn., on Friday, April 7.
 
Field events are set to start at 3 p.m. with running competition beginning at 3:45 p.m., with the 3,000-meter steeplechase. More than 700 student-athletes from NCAA DI, DII and DIII will compete at the meet. After this competition, CSB is scheduled to host the CSB/SJU Invite/Multi on April 14-15 at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville, Minn. 
 
To follow along, click links here - live stats, live video and meet program.
 
Fiona Smith named MIAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week 
After an impressive showing in the first outdoor competition of the 2023 season, nine-time All-American Fiona Smith has been named the MIAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week, according to an announcement April 4 by the MIAC office. For Smith, she earned her ninth career outdoor MIAC Athlete of the Week and first of the 2023 season. The junior standout recorded her seventh MIAC Athlete of the Week honor including indoor track and cross country during 2023. During her career, she has an incredible 19 MIAC honors in track and field and cross country. In her first competition since winning both the 3K and 5K individual national titles at the NCAA DIII Indoor Championships on March 10-11 in Birmingham, Ala., Smith shined again by clocking a 16:26.19 in the 5,000 meters and finished second behind 2023 NCAA DII national indoor 5K champion Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State, who finished at 16:08.11 at the Wartburg Outdoor Select. The mark by Smith ranks second all-time outdoors in program history, just behind her record time of 16:16.54 in placing fifth at the Drake Relays on April 29, 2022.   

Season Review  
 
Bennies opened season with three top-10 program marks at Wartburg Outdoor Select

The Bennies, which finished ninth in the team standings with 29.5 points, competed against a number of NCAA DII and NCAA DIII as well as NAIA programs at the meet.

In her first competition since winning both the 3K and 5K individual national titles at the NCAA DIII Indoor Championships, junior Fiona Smith shined again by clocking a 16:26.19 and finishing second. The mark by Smith is second all-time outdoors behind her time of 16:16.54 in placing fifth at the Drake Relays on April 29, 2022. She finished only behind 2023 NCAA DII national indoor 5K champion Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State at 16:08.11. CSB also had a fourth place finish in the race from junior Annie Kiolbasa at 18:33.72.

Sophomore Justus Floren recorded a personal best (indoors or outdoors) mark of 1.60 meters or 5-03 for fourth place at the meet. For Floren, the mark ranks sixth best all-time and tied with Laurel Kennedy (2012) and Niki Fokken (2016).

In her first 100 meter hurdles race, first-year Lauren Berg placed 12^th in 15.61 with the ninth best time in program history. She also placed 12^th in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:08.59, which she also competed in for the first time. Berg finished just out of the program's top 10 (1:06.13, Lori Garlock, 1998).

CSB also had a 4-5-6 finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Mary Kenney was fourth in 12:14.98 and followed by Bridget Tetmeyer, fifth, 12:20.48 and Keiley Maahs, sixth, 12:25.17.

In the 800-meters, first-year Brooke Verkinnes had a personal-best of 2:30.62 (2:33.81, indoors, SJU/CSB Invite, Feb. 11, 2023) and finished 18^th. 
 
MIAC Notes  
 
A year ago, the Bennies crowned five conference champions and finished second overall at the 2022 MIAC Outdoor Championships – the team's best finish since 2017. CSB scored 117.333 points, the second-best point total in program history. Five conference champions is the most in program history – indoor or outdoor. CSB, which placed fifth at the 2023 Indoor MIAC Meet, had six total All-MIAC performances by five student-athletes a year ago. Of that group, three return, including sophomore Justus Floren who won the high jump; and junior Tiana Johnson who captured the 200-meter dash. Junior Fiona Smith, a nine-time All-American, won the 5K for the second straight year and also captured the 10K before later earning All-American honors in both events
 
Head Coach Robin Balder-Lanoue leads successful CSB team 
Under Balder-Lanoue's watch, CSB has finished in the top five in the MIAC 11 of the last 14 indoor championships and nine of the last 12 outdoor meets. In 2017, Balder-Lanoue led the team to its best-ever finishes at both the indoor and outdoor meets, finishing runner-up at both. CSB also took second at the indoor meet in 2014 and 2011, and Balder-Lanoue was named the MIAC Indoor Coach of the Year in 2016, 2011 and 2009. Balder-Lanoue also earned coach of the year honors in the 2017 and 2010 outdoor seasons. Balder-Lanoue has coached 352 All-MIAC Honorable Mention athletes, 165 All-MIAC First Team selections and 54 conference champions. She has coached 16 NCAA Division III All-Americans and 57 national qualifiers. Twenty-three of the current outdoor records and 24 of the school's indoor records have been set under Balder-Lanoue's watch. As well as being successful on the course, CSB's track and field teams have had plenty of success in the classroom as well. CSB has won 14 straight USTFCCCA All-Academic Team awards, and 50 individuals have been honored in that time. Balder-Lanoue is a 1991 graduate of the College of Saint Benedict and participated in both track and field and cross country for four years. She still has one of the top-50 5K times in CSB history and earned All-MIAC in track and field in 1990 and 1991. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and secondary education from CSB in 1991 and graduated with a master's degree in education from Hamline in 1998. From 1991-96, Balder-Lanoue taught and was the head Nordic ski coach and assistant cross country and track and field coach at Monticello High School in nearby Monticello, Minn. She came to CSB as the head cross country coach in 1997 and served as an assistant track coach before taking over the program in 1999.Balder-Lanoue still actively competes in road races. She took 15^th at the Twin Cities Marathon in 1996 and competes in various team relays such as Ragnar or the Hood to Coast Relay – which span nearly 200 miles – every year. Her relay team, Baba Yaga, was the first women's team to cross the finish line at the Ragnar Wasatch Back in Utah in 2019. Balder-Lanoue and her husband, Bruce, live in St. Cloud with their daughter.