NORTHFIELD, Minn. / LA CROSSE, Wis. – Eleven members of the St. Olaf College women's track and field team were in action on the first day of two last chance NCAA qualifying meets on Wednesday.

St. Olaf had four competitors compete on the first day of the heptathlon at the Ole Last Chance Multi at Manitou Track, while seven Oles traveled to La Crosse, Wis. in the evening to run in three distance events at UW-La Crosse's Final Qualifier at Roger Harring Stadium.

In La Crosse, first years Sofia Carlson and Alison Bode recorded a 1-2 finish in the 5,000-meter run with times of 17:31.84 and 18:04.42, respectively. The times led the way in the field of 13 runners, which also included sophomore Bailey VanderWilde, who was 13th in 20:20.31. Runners needed to post a time faster than 16:55.15 to break into the top 20 nationally and hopefully earn a spot in the 2022 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Three Oles ran in the 1,500-meter run to start the evening, as sophomore Sophie Call, sophomore Katie Gebert, and senior Samantha Posey finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, in the seven-woman field. Call recorded a time of 4:42.41 to surpass her previous PR by over eight seconds, while Gebert and Posey clocked in at 4:46.02 and 4:51.02.

Junior Christine Albrecht was sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase near the midpoint of the race before being unable to finish the event.

In Northfield, junior Rebekah Salfer entered the day 25th nationally in the heptathlon and was hoping to better her score of 4,251 points from her runner-up finish at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

In the first event of the day, however, the junior was disqualified on the final hurdle of the 100-meter hurdles. Salfer remained in the field in the final three events of the day and earned 1,798 points to sit fifth despite receiving zero points in the hurdles.

Competing in their first multi event, sophomore Riki Poore, sophomore Ququ Holman, and Julia Cordes rounded out the field of eight competitors in sixth, seventh, and eighth place, respectively.

Both meets continue on Thursday, May 19, beginning with the resumption of the heptathlon at 9:45 a.m. in Northfield. Field events in La Crosse begin at 3 p.m. followed by track events at 4 p.m.