ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – With a program-first three individual titles by
Fiona Smith, the No. 14 College of Saint Benedict track and field team finished third at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championship which concluded on Saturday night.
The Bennies had 127.50 points, which bettered their mark of 117.5 a year ago and is the second highest total in school history (130, 2017) at the MIAC Championships. CSB had five titles, which tied the program mark set a year ago, 11 top-10 program marks, 23 personal bests and 10 All-MIAC performances. In addition, the Bennies had 21 top eight or better finishes.
All MIAC performances – 1,500 meters,
Fiona Smith, 1
st; 5,000-meters,
Fiona Smith, 1
st; 10,000-meters,
Fiona Smith, 1
st; 4x400-meter relay, 1
st; 4x100 meter relay, 2
nd; 400-meter hurdles,
Lauren Berg, 2
nd; Long Jump, Elizabeth Selisker, 3
rd; High Jump,
Ellie Selisker, 3
rd; Pole Vault,
Caitlin Salfer, 3
rd; Heptathlon,
Justus Floren, 1
st.
Day 2 Breakdown
Smith became the first student-athlete in MIAC or CSB school history to win three individual titles, pulling off the rare 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters triple. On Friday, she won the 1,500 meters in a facility record of 4:34.40 and the 10,000 meters (34.31.92). Today, she broke a nine-year old MIAC record in the 5K by clocking 16:19.98, which is the third best of her career and the program's third best time at that distance. In winning her ninth career individual title, Smith shattered the 16:59.19 mark of Kimber Meyer of Macalester in 2014 while also establishing a new facility mark. So, Smith's record-setting prowess continued with a conference and two facility records during the championships.
CSB had its second title of the day and tied a program mark with the fifth of the championship by winning the 4x400-meter relay for the first time in school history. The relay squad included first-year
Lauren Berg, sophomore
Emerson Knapp, and juniors
Sidela Nyuga and
Ella Young. CSB had solid work in the relays on as they also placed second in the 4x100-meters, clocking 49.27, with a team of
Myah Nelson Tiana Johnson,
Hailey Johnson and
Kate Gallagher. And with their fourth-place finish in the 4x800 relay on Friday, the Bennies finished top four in all three contested relays at the meet.
Berg, who had four All-MIAC performances indoors, continued to build on her conference resume. Along with the 4x400-meter relay, the first-year standout recorded the second fastest 400-meter hurdles time in program history and placed second at 1:03.52, surpassing Mandy Witshen, who had a 1:03.91 in 2013 for CSB.
Ellie Selisker continued her strong performance at the MIAC with a second All-MIAC performance (long jump, 3rd) with this one coming in the high jump as she placed third with a personal-best of 1.56m – 5-01.25, which was just outside program's top 10. Coupled with a fourth-place performance from sophomore
Justus Floren, who had a jump of 1.51m – 4-11.50, the two student-athletes combined for 10.5 points.
In the throws, senior
Maggie Beckmann had a pair of top five finishes. In the hammer throw, Beckman placed fourth as she had a throw of 46.46m – 152-05, which is the second best in her career and a top-five throw in program history. In fact, she also had a throw of 46.45 0 152-04 on her first throw of the afternoon with both marks surpassing the previous facility record of 44.76m by Madison Reed of Hamline on April 15, 2023.
Beckmann was also fifth in the discus by tossing the oval 38.25m – 125-06, which was her second best of the season and a program top 10 mark. Also in the hammer throws,
Haley Joos was 13
th at 40.51m – 132-11-00; and
Kendall Bechtold, 16
th, 39.72m – 130-03.
Junior
Kate Gallagher clocked a 12.45, a personal-best and the seventh best mark in program history, to place fifth in the 100-meter dash. Also in the race,
Myah Nelson was ninth in 12.85. In the 200-meter dash, Gallagher scored points for CSB with a seventh-place finish and a 26.32 clocking.
Keiley Maahs placed fifth (11:29.32) and
Mary Kenney was seventh (11:46.65) as CSB scored six points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Also, for CSB,
Bridget Tetmeyer was ninth (11:50.37) while
Emily Tess took 18
th in 13:28.67. In the race, all four CSB runners recorded personal bests with Maah's time 22 seconds better and Kenney's 21 seconds better than her previous best. Tetmeyer bettered her previous mark by 4.9 seconds and Tess dropped her time by 10 seconds.
Junior
Ella Young also placed ninth in the 800 meters by going 2:21.02.
