The indoor track and field season came to a close with four St. Olaf students traveling to Boston, Mass. for the NCAA DIII National Championships. Mackenzie Schoustra ’20 and Johanna Glaaser ’20 represented the women and Sean Lonergan ’20 and Thomas Lerdall ’19 represented the men.
Schoustra placed sixteenth overall in the pentathlon and set a personal best in shot put, throwing 10.33 meters. She finished eleventh in the 60-meter, twelfth in the high jump, thirteenth in the 800-meter run and eighteenth in the long jump. Glaaser ran a 57.92 in the 400-meter dash, setting a new personal best and placing her third in her heat. This time did not qualify for the finals but was .02 seconds faster than her qualifying performance at the Last Chance Meet.
On Friday, Lonergan finished seventh in the preliminary heat with a time of 4:10.18, qualifying for finals on Saturday. There, he posted a personal record and moved to eighth on the all-time St. Olaf list finishing the mile run with a time of 4:07.78. Finishing sixth overall, he garnered All-American honors, given to the top-eight runners of each event. Lonergan is the fifth St. Olaf student in the last five years to earn All-American honors in the indoor mile and the sixth since 2012.
“It was really neat to be competing alongside some exceptional pentathletes… I was able to witness stellar performances.” – Mackenzie Schoustra ’20
Lerdall placed fourteenth overall in the 5000 meter run with a time of 14:54.95. The senior came into the race seeded to finish 18th of 20 runners, but finished several seconds before his seeded time.
All of the qualifiers earned all-region honors. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association also named Jacob Gursky ’19 to the All-Central Region list of honorees, a group of student-athletes in the top-five of their respective event. Gursky earned all-region honors in the pole vault for the fifth time in his career and the third time in the indoor event. He ranks third in the Central Region and second in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) after clearing 4.45 meters in the pole vault.
The meet enabled the best athletes in the country to compete with one another. Every year, multiple St. Olaf student-athletes qualify and compete at this high level.
“It was really neat to be competing alongside some exceptional pentathletes,” Schoustra said. “I was able to witness stellar performances from a variety of athletes across the country in each event.”
The indoor season spans from late November and ends early March. The St. Olaf Track & Field athletes get a short break from competition before heading into the outdoor track season. Schoustra is looking forward to “being outside and throwing javelin.” Their first meet is April 6 at Hamline.
