NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Bethel University men's track & field squad won four event titles and set a program record at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 28.
For the second week in a row, freshman
Landen Liu set a program record in the sprint events. This week, Liu ran 22.02 in the 200m to win the event. Liu barely edged out teammate
Jacob Parent (22.13), who last week tied the program record of 22.10. Liu is currently ranked 8th in Division III in the 200m, and 7th in the 60m (6.80). Parent's time from last week ranks him as 11th in the 200m.
Senior captain
Joel Smith also put up a national level performance as the Royals swept the top three spots in the 400m. Smith pulled away from the field with 150m to go, running a MIAC leading time of 49.57. That time ranks Smith 14th in Division III. Freshman
Grant Nelson ran a terrific race to take 2nd in a time of 50.70, holding off
Josh Sampson who ran 50.82 in 3rd place.
Bethel took home 2 field event titles, both in the jumps. Sam Gardeen cleared a personal best 4.40m / 14'5.25" in the pole vault to win the event. Gardeen is currently atop the MIAC honor roll with that jump. Freshman
Simon Swenson earned first place in the long jump with a personal best leap of 6.52m / 21'4.75". That mark is just 1cm behind the top jump in the MIAC this year.
Grant Nelson was 3rd in the long jump with a jump of 6.44m / 21'1.5".
In the throws,
Evan Larsen and Adam Hokanson each had personal bests in the shot put. Larsen took 2nd place with a throw of 14.09m / 46'2.75" and Hokanson was 3rd with a throw of 14.07m / 46'2". Larsen also took 4th in the weight throw in a personal best 14.15m / 46'5.25".
The personal bests continued for the Royals as
David Myres took 2nd place in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.41. That time puts Myres 38th on the Division III honor roll.
Reese Thompson ran a personal best of 9:03.57 in the 3000m run to take 3rd place.
Tad Stewart ran a gutsy and aggressive race in the 1000m run to take 3rd in a time of 2:38.74.
Alec Braun took 2nd place in the high jump with a clearance of 1.75m / 5'8.75".
The Royals will travel to UW-LaCrosse next week for the Mark Guthrie Legacy Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 4.
