NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's track and field team recorded its highest finish at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships since 2017 by placing third on Friday and Saturday at Carleton College's Recreation Center.
Over the two-day meet, St. Olaf had eight all-conference performances and seven honorable mention all-conference results on its way to compiling 106 points in the team standings. The third-place finish was the Oles' best since finishing as the runner-up in 2017, as St. Olaf finished behind first-time team champion Saint John's (185) and Concordia-Moorhead (139).
Junior
Lucas Kramarczuk (55-meter hurdles/triple jump) and senior
Reuben Kosche (mile/3,000 meters) each registered All-MIAC performances in two events, while sophomore
Will Kelly (5,000 meters), sophomore
Ian Curtis (3,000 meters), senior
Stephen Peper (high jump), and first year
Cade Feist (shot put) all did so in one event. St. Olaf also had seven performances at the meet that ranked on the program's all-time top-10 list.
On Friday, the Oles recorded eight top-five finishes to earn 55 points in the team standings and sit in fourth place heading into the final day. On Saturday, St. Olaf added five top-three performances to leapfrog Bethel and finish third.
FRIDAY RECAP | RESULTS
St. Olaf started the meet with four third-place finishes on the first day, with all four top-three performances coming on the track. The Oles finished one point behind Bethel heading into the second day.
Kramarczuk had his first all-conference performance of the meet by placing third in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.89 seconds after winning his heat in 7.91 seconds. Sophomore
Demetri Lord added a fifth-place finish in the event in 7.99 seconds after taking second in his heat in 7.93 seconds.
Kosche and Curtis ran to a 3-4 finish in the one-mile run as Kosche earned the first of his two All-MIAC honors with a time of 4:16.10. Curtis was just over a half-second behind in 4:16.67, while junior
Noah Massanari also scored in the event with an eighth-place performance (4:22.43).
Kelly picked up All-MIAC honors in the 5,000-meter run and was one of three Oles to score in the event after placing third in 14:49.53, which ranks seventh in program history. Junior
Logan Bocovich collected honorable mention honors after finishing fifth (14:58.00) and first year
Andrew Skemp was seventh (15:06.92).
In his first conference meet, first year
Dylan Arnold took fourth in the 55-meter dash (6.69) to gather honorable mention laurels. St. Olaf's distance medley relay of senior
Henrik Gilbertson, senior
Duncan Forbes, junior
Penn Sagedahl, and junior
Noah Massanari also had an honorable mention performance by taking third (10:31.88).
SATURDAY RECAP | FULL RESULTS
Kosche, Peper, and Kramarczuk all recorded runner-up finishes on Saturday to help St. Olaf pass Bethel and finish third. The Oles earned 51 points on day two, compared to 35 for the Royals.
Kosche, Curtis, and Kelly all scored in the 3,000-meter run, as Kosche picked up his second All-MIAC accolade, Curtis earned his first of the meet, and Kelly secured honorable mention status with a 2-3-6 finish for St. Olaf. Kosche placed second in 8:22.08, which was nearly nine seconds better than his seed time, a top-30 time in the country this season, and the fourth-fastest time in program history. Curtis was less than a second behind Kosche in third (8:23.06) with the fifth-fastest time in program history and another top-30 time in the country. Kelly placed sixth (8:35.02) and was over seven seconds ahead of his seed time.
Despite suffering an injury in the heptathlon the day before, Peper turned in a runner-up performance in the high jump by clearing 2.01 meters (6' 7") on his third and final attempt. The senior finished behind only Maguire Petersen of Saint John's, who cleared 2.04 meters on his first try before going out on 2.07 meters.
Kramarczuk posted the fifth-best jump in program history in the triple jump, finishing as the runner-up with a jump of 13.85 meters (45' 5 ¼") on his sixth and final attempt. Elijah Wade of Saint John's won the event with a mark of 14.05 meters (46' 1 ¼"). Junior
Sean Souksavath also scored in the event by finishing seventh (12.87m, 42' 2 ¾").
St. Olaf had three scorers in the shot put, led by first year
Cade Feist's all-conference, third-place finish (14.43m, 47' 4 ¼"). Feist's throw of 14.43 meters tied him with senior
Aengus White for eighth in program history. White was just behind Feist in fourth (14.39m, 47' 2 ½"), while junior
Andrew Mollison took eighth (13.86m, 45' 5 ¾").
The Oles will have a contingent of student-athletes compete at the Wartburg Last Chance NCAA Qualifier on Saturday, March 5.
