Competing on a warm sunny day day one of the MIAC Championships in Winona, the Wildcats track and field team set four school records and had three personal bests.
In the first event of the day, the St. Kate's 4x100 meter relay team of Jennifer Ampe,
Kim Engel,
Jamie Kelly and
Sam Levercom set a new school record, and qualified for the finals on saturday with a 50.33 clocking.
A short while later
Kim Engel returned to the track and set a new St. Kate's school record in the 400 meter dash with a time of 58.11. That was a new personal best for Engel by nearly one full second, and qualified her for Saturday's final.
Not long after that sister
Kayla Engel added to the Wildcats record haul as she broke her own school record with a time of 2:15.88 in the 800 meter run. Kayla's time was less than a second away from being an NCAA provisional qualifying time, and advanced her to Saturday's final as well.
The Wildcats ended their record setting day with a fourth place finish in the final event of the day, the 4 x 800 meter relay. The Wildcats team of
Kim Engel,
Erin Coughlin,
Amanda Manship and
Kayla Engel finished with a time of 9:31.68. A performance that was over ten seconds faster than the previous record.
Breaking school records wasn't all that went well on day one for the Wildcats. SCU had a strong showing in the pole vault as Jennifer Ampe set a new personal best and moved to #2 all-time at St. Kate's. Her mark of 3.28 meters (10'9") tied her for third place and earned Ampe the first MIAC All-Conference honors of her career. Fellow vaulter
Kristina Popov finished eighth with a mark of 3.13 meters (10'3").
Battling the warm temperatures senior
Greta Sieve earned honorable mention honors in the 10,000 meters as she finished sixth overall.
Kelsey Eder turned in a new personal best in the 400 hurdles (73.45) and
Mary Beth Kowitz had a new personal best in the 1500 meter run (5:30.51).
After day one of competition the Wildcats are in seventh place with 14.5 points.
Complete results and meet information are available here
