Written by Sports Writing Student Chelsea Stahl '27

DECORAH, Iowa — The Gustavus Track & Field team opened its outdoor season at the Luther Norse Invite Saturday and left with a number of great performances and personal records to start the season. The Gustavus women finished first as a team in the meet, while the men took second. 

"For the first meet of the season and right after spring break I thought the team performed really well," said Head Coach Aaron Lund. "The weather was good, the energy was high, and we accomplished some great things. We even had new lifetime bests in a lot of different event areas, I am so proud of the team and I'm excited to see what they can do in the weeks ahead." 

"This was a great starting point for the season, we're building from here," added Assistant Coach Brenden Huber.

For the Gustavus women, Evelyn Villalobos started the competition off running the 10k, finishing second in the 40:24.09. Claire Schoenfield and Laura Sunnarborg finished third and fourth, running 41:16.47 and 42:52.83, respectively. Megan Geraets, hot off her first All-America honor, posted an impressive performance in the 400-meter, placing second in 58.27. McKenzie Luetmer followed in third with a 1:00.94. In the 100-meter, Kate Carlson snatched the win with a time of 12:37. The Gusties continued to dominate the short sprints, as Geraets placed first with a time of 24.84 in the 200-meter, a time that ranks 12th in the Division III rankings. Carlson followed in second, running a 25.15, which is the 22nd-best time in the DIII outdoor season thus far. The distance squad added a number of impressive performances in the 5k race, as Molly Liston placed first with a 2-minute PR of 18:18.96. Sydney Hagen placed second with an 18-second PR, crossing the line in 19:00.09.

Logan McCullough placed first in the 10k with a time of 32:34.58 to start the day for the Gustie men. In the 1500-meter Nicholas Brauer and Tyler Smith placed sixth and seventh, completing the race in 3:58.21 and 4:01.11. Cohen Stursa had an impressive performance in the 400-meter, taking second with a personal record of 51.11. In the 100-meter, Jade Anstine placed second with a time of 10.86. Zech Kyoore and Isaiah Subah set PRs behind Anstine, finishing their races in 11.33 and 11.35, respectively. 

In the field events, the Gusties set multiple personal records, as well as two meet records. In the weight throw, Kelley Brennan had a three-meter personal record throwing for 49.46m (162-03). Brennan's toss was a personal record, meet record, and ranks 17th in DIII so far. In the men's javelin, Connor McCormick threw a PR of 44.91m (147-04). In the women's javelin, Lakesha Carter launched a personal and meet record of 38.85m (127-05), a throw that now ranks 23rd in Division III. Alli Graff claimed the win in pole vault, vaulting a personal record of 3.05m (10-00.00). Geraets and Sarrah Lindner placed first and second in the long jump, jumping 5.40m (17-08.75) and 5.11m (16-09.25), respectively. Isaiah Subah placed third in the long jump with a distance 6.56m (21-06.25). 

"Being able to compete outdoors for the first time this year was such a great experience," said Junior Captain Lakesha Carter. "I was proud of the results that I got today, it shows all the hard work I've been putting in this season."

"The mood matched the team scores for our first meet of the outdoor season," said Assistant Coach Nathan Harder. On the track, our runners represented the Three Crowns fiercely, putting down some very respectable early season times. The next few weeks leading into conference promise to be very exciting.

It was in the field that our Gusties shined the brightest – 13 personal bests and two meet records at this point of the season is a fantastic starting point – and our field athletes are only showing signs of further improvement through the season."

The Gustavus track & field team will travel to Arden Hills next Saturday to compete in the Bethel Invitational.