WAVERLY, Iowa – Junior Rebekah Salfer of the St. Olaf College women's track and field team compiled a personal-best score of 3,095 points on her way to winning the pentathlon at the Wartburg Last Chance Qualifier on Friday at Hoover Fieldhouse.

Salfer won the 60-meter hurdles and tied for first in the long jump and was in the top three in all five events on the way to racking up 3,095 points to finish 135 points ahead of Jane Kautz of UW-Eau Claire. The junior's score exceeded her previous personal-best tally of 2,900 points from last week's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships and ranks 25th in the country.

In the first event of the day, Salfer picked up a win in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.44 seconds to take an 80-point lead. She backed that up with back-to-back second-place finishes in the high jump (1.45m) – clearing 1.42 meters and 1.45 meters on her third attempts – and shot put (9.98m) and sat second after three events, trailing Stephanie Witbrod of Bethany Lutheran by 49 points.

Salfer and Witbrod then tied for first in the long jump with identical jumps of 4.80 meters, leaving Witbrod in the lead headed to the fifth and final event. In the 800-meter run, Salfer placed third with a personal-best time of 2:31.43 to leapfrog Witbrod and vault to the top of the standings in the field of seven competitors.

Six Oles are in action on day two of the meet on Saturday, March 4. The meet serves as the final opportunity for student-athletes to qualify for next week's 2022 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships.