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ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University track and field team definitely saved its best for last. After seeing a school record fall and a champion crowned on Friday, the Wildcats were looking to keep the good times rolling on Saturday. The team did that and more, as St. Kate's student-athletes put together more career performances to help the team finish the 2017 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Indoor Track and Field Championship in ninth with 31.5 points.

Tori Thompson (Rochester, Minn. / John Marshall) provided the day's highlight, as she became the second Wildcat to take down a program record. On her opening jump in the long jump competition, Thompson recorded a distance of 5.20 meters, just .01 off the school record. In the next two rounds, Thompson managed to crush the school record, first with a jump of 5.28 meters before flying 5.36 meters to set the record again, and managed to qualify for finals in the process.  

Thompson, the reigning outdoor long jump champion, knew she would have her hands full in the finals, going up against top-seeded Becca Dup of Saint Mary's and five other jumpers seeded ahead of her. However, Thompson passed all of them but Dup on her sixth and final jump in the event. The sophomore dual sport athlete, fresh off her All-MIAC season for the St. Kate's hockey team, flew a distance of 5.40 meters on her final jump, again crushing her own school record and finishing second only to Dup's jump of 5.43 meters.

In addition to Thompson, the Wildcats had several good performances on the track as well. St. Kate's 4x200 team of Liliya Kirkova (Burnsville, Minn. / Burnsville), Megan Thoemke (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Mahtomedi), Liza Leja (Abrams, Wis. / Oconto) and Shakeela Wells-Johnson (St. Paul, Minn. / Harding) finished in seventh place with a time of 1:48.61.

The Wildcats other relay team of Thoemke, Teagan Tretter (Kronenwetter, Wis. / DC Everest), Shannon Strickland and Kirkova was equally impressive. St. Kate's 4x400 meter relay team finished in ninth with a time of 4:20.66, two seconds faster than its seeded time of 4:22.38.

Kirkova and Wells-Johnson were also impressive in the 200 meter dash. Kirkova finished in 12^th place with a time of 26.69, which is the second fastest time in school history, while Wells-Johnson was 18^th with a time of 27.35.

Distance runners Leighlin Ahlstrom (White Bear Lakes, Minn. / White Bear Lake) and Courtney Kirkeide (Greenbush, Minn. / Greenbush-Middle River) were successful on the second day of the MIAC Indoor Track and Field Championship in their respective events. Ahlstrom finished in the top-25 of the 3000 meter run with a time of 11:01.74 while Kirkeide just missed recording a new personal record (PR) in the 1000 with a time of 3:10.92.

Johna Radke (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego) scored points for St. Kate's in high jump, as she finished in a five-way tie for seventh after clearing 1.51 meters in the event. Katelyn Byers-Carter (Bloomington, Minn. / Jefferson) just missed qualifying for finals in shot put with a 10^th place finish.
 
Thanks to these outstanding performances, St. Kate's finished ninth as a team with 31.5 points. The Wildcats will return to the track next weekend to compete in a last chance meet before the NCAA Championship.