WINONA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's track and field team recorded its second-highest point total at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships since 1994 while posting a third-place team finish on Saturday at Saint Mary's Track & Field Complex.

St. Olaf earned 113.33 points over the two-day meet, edging Bethel for third place by 1/3 of a point and trailing runner-up Saint Ben's by four points in the team standings. Gustavus claimed its first-ever team title with 139 points.

The Oles' third-place finish was their third in the last four MIAC Outdoor Championships, matching the team's best finish since 1994. St. Olaf's 113.33 points marked the program's second-highest total since the 1994 team racked up 129 points, trailing only the 2019 team's total of 116 points.

On day two of the meet, six Oles earned All-MIAC honors with top-three finishes and St. Olaf had seven Honorable Mention All-MIAC performances for finishing between fourth and sixth in an individual event. St. Olaf's six all-conference performances included three runner-up finishes.

St. Olaf earned 22 of its 113.33 points – the highest total for any team in any event at the meet – in the 1,500-meter run thanks to a 2-3-4-6 finish. Senior Samantha Posey led the way for the Oles in the event in second (4:43.38), followed by sophomore Katie Gebert in third (4:44.78), first year Sophie Abernethy in fourth (4:51.99), and sophomore Bella Call in sixth (4:58.92). In total, St. Olaf had five of the top-10 finishers in the event and six of the top 12.

After starting the day as the No. 6 seed in the event, sophomore Ainslee Parker finished as the runner-up in the triple jump with a lifetime-best jump of 11.23 meters (36' 10 ¼") on her third attempt. The result moved Parker up from seventh to fifth on St. Olaf's all-time list in the event.

Junior Teresa Pettitt-Kenney nearly became the program's first MIAC outdoor champion in the pole vault since 2009 but finished second on a tiebreaker after she and Jessica Lilland of Bethel both cleared 3.50 meters (11' 5 ¾").

Junior Christine Albrecht and first year Sofia Carlson collected All-MIAC honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000-meter run, respectively. Albrecht was a little over five seconds off the winning pace in the steeplechase with a time of 11:38.93, while Carlson picked up her second All-MIAC accolade in as many days at the meet with a third-place result in the 5,000-meter run (18:07.68).

Just as they did in the 10,000-meter run on Friday, Carlson and Bode took third and fourth in the 5k, as Bode crossed the line in 18:13.05 to secure honorable mention status. Sophomore Julia Everest gave St. Olaf a third scorer in the event in seventh (18:44.32).

Sophomore Karla Kroschel posted a pair of fifth-place, honorable-mention finishes in the 200-meter dash (26.30) and 400-meter dash (59.83), while junior Rebekah Salfer was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:05.86). Sophomore Aleah Keske added a fifth-place performance in the shot put (12.25m).

Next week, the Oles host the Ole Last Chance Multi on Wednesday and Thursday, May 18-19 and will send student-athletes to compete at the UW-La Crosse Last Chance Qualifier on Thursday. The meets serve as the final opportunity to post times/marks to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The top-20 declared student-athletes in each individual event are accepted into the national meet.