RESULTS | DAY 1 RECAP
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The women's track and field team placed 2nd in the MIAC Outdoor Championships with 119 team points. That is the team's highest place and point total in program history at the conference championships.
"We had a phenomenal meet," said Head Coach Andrew Rock. "I'm really proud of what we accomplished today. This team has put in so much work, and time, and heart into this throughout the year, and to see those performances was very fulfilling! They fed off each other and I think that was a big part of the momentum we had today."
In a total team effort, the Royals picked up points in every event area from the 100m to the 10k, from long jump to hammer throw. Bethel won four events over the weekend: 400m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, and 4x400m relay.
Kelsie Sealock was the first event winner for Bethel on Championship Saturday. Sealock got out hard and was the first to hurdle number one in the 100m hurdles. In a tightly contested race with Gustavus runner Birgen Nelson, Sealock held off a late surge to win the race in 14.14, just 0.001 ahead of 2nd place. Her time is a school record, 4th in Division III, and just 0.01 off the MIAC Championship Meet record.
Senior Captain Hannah Sankey won her first individual conference title as she won the 400m. Sankey held off the field in the final stages of the race to win in 57.26. Her time is the 20th fastest in Division III this year.
Mikayla Turek had a breakthrough race in the 400m hurdles in the preliminary round, running a personal best 1:03.48. Turek pressed hard in the finals in the last 150m to pull ahead and take the title in 1:03.49. She currently ranks 13th in Division III.
At the end of the day, the team of Sankey, Sealock, Britta Nordberg, and Turek won the 4x400m relay in record setting fashion. Their time of 3:51.39 established a new conference meet record and currently ranks the Royals 7th in Division III. They won the race by 10 seconds.
Earlier on in the day, the field event athletes got momentum rolling for the Royals. Lauren Wagner had a lifetime best throw in the hammer, tossing it 44.15m / 144'10" to place 5th. That throw also stands as the 3rd best in program history. Freshman AnnaGrace Nelson had a season best performance in the high jump with her leap of 1.58m / 5'2.25" to take 4th place. Nelson came back to score 3 points in the triple jump by taking 6th place with her jump of 10.94m / 35'10.75".
In the first event on the track, the 4x100m relay team of Jireh Babalola, Grace Scott, Lauren Richards, and Grace Perrenoud took 2nd place with a season best time of 48.93. Babalola and Scott also placed in the 100m final. Babalola ran a personal best of 12.57 to take 4th place, and Scott ran 12.80 for 6th. Britta Nordberg added big points in the sprints, as she ran a lifetime best 58.44 in the 400m to take 4th place. Freshman Jessie Smith finished strong in the 400m hurdles to take 7th with a lifetime best of 1:08.32.
Annessa Ihde led Bethel in the distance events as she placed 3rd in the 800m. Ihde ran even splits to earn a new personal best of 2:13.71, a time that currently sits 26th in Division III. Erika Swanson had a 7 second personal best in the 3000m steeplechase to take 6th place with her time of 11:43.67.
UP NEXT
The Royals will finish off the 2021 season by competing at the UW-LaCrosse Final Qualifier on Wednesday and Thursday, May 19th and 20th for one last attempt to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championship. This year the NCAA will take the top 19 women, 17 men, and 14 relays on the Division III honor roll to the national meet. The national championship meet will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina on May 27-29.
