NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Junior
Rebekah Salfer of the St. Olaf College women's track and field team was the runner-up in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Heptathlon and first year
Lily Johnson placed 11th over the two-day competition on Thursday and Friday at Carleton College's Laird Stadium.
Salfer compiled 4,251 points over the seven events to trail only Concordia-Moorhead's Peyton Selle – who won her third-straight MIAC multi – in the field of 14 competitors. The junior's score of 4,251 moved Salfer up from 10th to sixth on St. Olaf's all-time heptathlon list and ranks 16th in the country.
Competing in her first collegiate heptathlon, Johnson earned 3,162 points over the two days and recorded personal-best results in all four events on Thursday on the way to placing 11th.
The second-place finish earned Salfer her first All-MIAC honor in a multi after she was an honorable mention honoree in the pentathlon this year (fourth) and the heptathlon last year (fifth). The all-conference accolade was the third of Salfer's career in total.
DAY ONE RECAP
Salfer posted first-place finishes in the 100-meter hurdles and shot put and was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash to sit second in the standings through four events. The junior racked up 2,594 points on the first day to trail Selle by 74 points.
Salfer started the day by posting the top time in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking in with a personal-best time of 15.38 seconds, which ranks fifth in program history in the event. Later in the day, she broke her previous personal-best mark in the shot put by over one meter, winning the event with a throw of 11.11 meters. Salfer concluded the day with a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash (27.42), trailing Selle by just one one-hundredth of a second.
Johnson set personal-bests in each of Friday's four events and was 12th heading into day two with 2,006 points. Johnson's best finish of the day was a sixth-place showing in the 200-meter dash (28.29).
DAY TWO RECAP
Salfer started day two with back-to-back fifth-place performances in the long jump (4.91m) and javelin throw (30.50m) to trim Selle's lead to 46 points heading into the 800-meter run. Needing to make up the deficit over the two laps, Salfer went out hard and led for most of the race, but Selle closed strong to win the event in 2:32.55 and clinch the first-place finish.
Salfer's throw of 30.50 meters in the javelin was a personal best and she ultimately finished fourth in the 800-meter run (2:34.64). Johnson's top finish of day two came in the 800-meter run where she was ninth (2:45.72).
In its final meet as a team before the MIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, St. Olaf hosts the Ole Open on Saturday, May 7 starting at 11 a.m. at Manitou Track.
