NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's and women's track and field teams began the 2024 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships with the pentathlon and the first four events of the heptathlon on Thursday at Tostrud Center.

Senior Demetri Lord – the reigning conference champion in the heptathlon – won two events and was the runner-up in another to get out to a 91-point lead through four events to lead five Oles in the event. Senior Lily Johnson and first year Aubree Klein placed seventh and 11th, respectively, in the pentathlon, with all five events taking place on Thursday.

Lord collected 2,727 points over the four events to carry a 91-point lead over Wade Rhonemus of Concordia-Moorhead with three events remaining. The senior won the 60-meter dash (7.10) and the shot put (12.14m, 39' 10") and was second in the long jump (6.31m, 20' 8 ½"), while tying for fifth in the high jump (1.78m, 5' 10"). Lord's time of 7.10 seconds moved him up to second on St. Olaf's all-time list in the 60-meter dash, trailing only the school record of 6.96 seconds set by Reggie Woods in 2013. His mark in the shot put was also a personal-best performance.

Junior Andrew Cogley used a pair of top-three finishes to earn 2,515 points to sit in fourth in the field of 17 competitors. Cogley closed out the day with a runner-up performance in the high jump (1.84m, 6' ½") to rise to fourth and was third in the long jump (6.24m, 20' 5 ¾") in the second event of the day. The clearance was a personal-best result for the junior, who also clocked in with a PR in the 60-meter dash (7.55). First years Jesse Olson, Gavin Hoelzel, and Will Lapinski sat 11th, 15th, and 16th, respectively.

In the pentathlon, Johnson improved two spots and over 100 points from her ninth-place finish last year by finishing seventh with 2,657 points. The senior established personal bests in the 60-meter hurdles (9.94), high jump (1.43m, 4' 8 ¼"), and the 800-meter run (2:43.25) to blow past her previous personal-best score of 2,569 points by 88 points.

In just the second pentathlon of her young collegiate career, Klein raised her score by over 150 points from the St. Olaf Invitational & Multi in late January by placing 11th with 2,314 points. The first year started the day with a personal-best time of 10.64 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and added a PR in the shot put (9.15m, 30' ¼"), which led to her top finish of the day with a sixth-place result.

Day two of the heptathlon begins at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, which is also the first day of the rest of the meet. Field events will start at 2:30 p.m. followed by track events at 4 p.m.