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Results |
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The St. Catherine University track and field team knew after the opening day of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Outdoor Championships that it had the potential to out-perform original expectations for the team's finish. Thanks to a monster day and conference title from
Shakeela Wells-Johnson (St. Paul, Minn./Harding), the Wildcats had their highest team placing in six years finishing ninth with 46 points Saturday afternoon at Macalester College in St. Paul.
The sophomore sprinter couldn't have come up with much better performances for the Wildcats as she captured her first MIAC individual event title –and second in as many days for the Wildcats – with her incredible 100-meter dash finish. All season, Wells-Johnson has held the top time in the MIAC for the sprint event, but she narrowly captured victory in the finals with a time of 12.12 to break her own school record.
Wells-Johnson's championship victory came after she finished second in the 100-meter hurdles breaking another of her school records with a finals time of 14.66 – the first time a Wildcat has ever broken the 15-second mark in the hurdle event. Both finishes helped Wells-Johnson end her remarkable sophomore MIAC campaign with three All-MIAC honors between both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
There was one more way that Wells-Johnson made an impact, though, as she anchored the 4 x 100-meter relay team to a fifth-place finish in the finals. She passed several competitors on the final leg of the race to allow the Wildcats to move up four positions from the prelims with a time of 50.34.
Brittany Moore (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul),
Abigail Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes),
Ashleigh Ackley (Gilby, N.D./Grand Forks Central) and Wells-Johnson remain No. 7 all-time at St. Kate's and earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention for the finish.
Moore also earned Honorable Mention when she raced to a personal record (PR) finish in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles. The junior added to the Wildcats point total when her time of 15.33 helped her finish fourth and take over the No. 2 spot on the St. Kate's top 10 list behind Wells-Johnson.
The All-MIAC Honorable Mentions continued, though, this time in the field events with
Sarah Manning (Page, Ariz./Page) collecting the honor for fourth time in her impressive four-year career. Her jump of 1.56 meters (5-1.25) was enough for sixth-place scoring additional points for the Wildcats in the team standings.
The Wildcats had their final point scoring performance of the meet from another senior who has also been a solid contributor along with Manning for four years.
Jenna McElroy (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) ended her MIAC career with a PR and seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Her time of 11:38.36 remains No. 2 all-time at St. Kate's behind Greta Sieve whose five-year-old MIAC record was broken Saturday by champion Ruth Steinke of Carleton College.
The final notable performances for the Wildcats came in the throws events from
Claire Vasilis (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) and
Nicole Szyszka (Jordan, Minn./Jordan). Vasilis placed 13th in the hammer throw with a PR mark of 40.46 meters (133-4) to remain No. 8 all-time, while Szyszka also had a PR mark of 38.85 meters (127-5). The sophomore also had a solid finish at 14th in the discus as her throw of 33.65 meters (110-5) was just off her PR.
The Wildcats' ninth-place finish in the standings was the best placing since the squad was eighth in 2009. Their 46 points was the highest since 2010 when the Wildcats collected 48.5 points. The University of St. Thomas won its 11th-straight conference title with 148 points.
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