RESULTS

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - Track is back! It has been over 10 months, but on Saturday the Royals were back in action. In the first MIAC competition of the 2020-21 academic year (in any sport), Bethel hosted Hamline in a dual meet. The Royals came away victorious over Hamline, 81-53.

"The thing that stood out to me today was the way we competed with joy and gratitude for the opportunity to be back together in a competitive setting," said head coach Andrew Rock. "It has been a long road to get to this point and will continue to be a journey filled with ups and downs. I know what they go through on a daily basis and to see the joy just makes being a part of this first meet back even more special."

That joy and gratitude of competing manifested itself in some terrific early season performances. Bethel student-athletes won seven events on the day.  Britta Nordberg won the 200m in 27.00 while leading the Royals to an impressive 1-6 finish. Mikayla Turek (27.56) and Jireh Babalola (27.79) took second and third, respectively. Babalola also took third in the 60m dash in 8.30. Kelsie Sealock ran a time of 9.25 in the 60m hurdles while winning convincingly. Freshman AnnaGrace Nelson had a terrific debut in the hurdles, taking second in 9.75.

The women's 4x400m relay of Britta Nordberg, Annessa Ihde, Kelsie Sealock, and Mikayla Turek ran 4:05.12, winning by a margin of 25 seconds.

Freshman Annessa Ihde won the 600m run in 1:42.19 while sophomore Emily Brockberg ran a tough race for second in 1:44.67 and Addie Wagenman took third in 1:54.22. Erika Swanson earned two second place finishes in the distance events. She ran 3:15.45 in the 1000m and doubled back to run 11:15.42 in the 3000m at the end of the day. Lydia Crow (3:29.65) scored two points in the 1000m with her third place finish.

Three of Bethel's event winners came from the field events. AnnaGrace Nelson came back after the hurdles to win the high jump (1.45m/4'9"). School record holders Jessica Lilland and Sadie Koelz went one-two in the pole vault as they both cleared 3.20m/10'6" and took attempts at a school record height of 3.35m/11'0".

Grace Perrenoud had a consistent series in the triple jump finishing in first place with 10.92m/35'10". Kayli Knighton-Johnson took second place in the same event with 9.92m/32'6.5". Perrenoud also earned third place in the long jump by leaping 4.74m/15'6.75". Emma Roethler scored three points in the shot put for her second-place finish as she threw 11.87m/38'11.5" in her first collegiate competition. Captain Lauren Wagner took third in the weight throw with a toss of 12.93m/42'5.25".

"Today was a great example of our team performing extremely well when they had every reason not to," says Rock. "I'm very proud of today's effort and it meant a lot to have our first meet back be at Bethel with the support of so many administrators, coaches, and support staff who gave us a chance to host today!" 

The Royals will host three dual meets in February. Bethel will compete against Gustavus on Feb. 6, St. Ben's/St. John's on Feb. 20, and Hamline again on Feb. 27. Follow @bethelxctf on Instagram and Twitter for updates!