NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Gustavus men's track and field team started the MIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships with six all-conference or honorable mention finishes, including a school record in the mile by junior Nick Brauer (Mankato, Minn.) and a school record by the 4x200 relay team. 

Starting off the day were the heptathlon athletes, senior Connor McCormick (Stillwater, Minn.) and first-year Amos Anderson (Mankato, Minn.), wrapping up their two-day competition. McCormick started the day dominating in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.93, which beat out the second place finisher by 0.27, while Anderson came in 10th with a time of 8.82. In the pole vault, an event McCormick qualified for individually, the Stillwater senior finished third, vaulting over 4.10m before failing, dropping him from second place to third with a score of 3939 with one event left. Anderson continued his strong senior campaign as well, finishing the event tied for fifth, getting over 3.80m to move one spot up to 10th. The final event of the day, the 1000-meter, was where the Gusties cemented their places, with McCormick finishing in fifth to stay in third overall and finish with a score of 4694. As for Anderson, he finished just one spot behind McCormick in sixth in the event, finishing off his first MIAC Indoor Track & Field heptathlon with a score of 4187 to finish eighth. With the third place finish, McCormick became the first member of the men's track team to earn all-conference honors this season.

Gustavus sophomore Kyler Flunker (Mankato, Minn.) finished in a tie for second in the high jump, eclipsing a height of 1.90m. Flunker only had to clear four heights after passing on the first three heights of 1.66m, 1.71m, and 1.76m. Flunker only hit the bar once before failing to clear 1.93m, which was on his first official jump of the day at 1.81m. Once Flunker got going, he was able to clear each of the other heights on the first time of asking. Also earning an all-conference honorable mention honor was sophomore Landon Gilbertson (Fairmont, Minn.), who passed 1.84m before failing to clear 1.87m. 

Gustavus senior Will Janzen (Minneapolis, Minn.) was the last individual to earn all-conference honors on the day, taking after women's 5000-meter champion Molly Liston (Richfield, Minn.) and also reaching the podium with a time of 15:08.27 to finish third. 

The 4x200-meter team of junior classmates Tyler Heil (Appleton, Wis.) and Jade Anstine (Sioux Falls, S.D.), sophomore Conner Martens (Nicollet, Minn.), and first-year Luke Scheel (Mankato, Minn.) rounded off the all-conference honors for the day, finishing third with a time of 1:29.30 to set a facility record and school record and earn six points. Anstine and Martens also finished highly, with Anstine marking fourth in the 55-meter with a time of 6.51 to qualify for Saturday's final, while Martens finished fifth in the 400-meter with a time of 50.30. 

Brauer set the school record in the mile on Friday, finishing in a time of 4:16.46, just two hundredths of a second faster than the record Tucker Wallin set in 2023, also at the MIAC championship meet. This time unfortunately could only garner honorable mention status in another stacked competition, including the championship record by Cole Stencel of Saint John's. 

After the first day of competition, the Gustavus men's team sits in fourth place at the conference meet with 42 points, just seven points behind third place Saint John's. The conference meet continues tomorrow afternoon at Carleton, with action set to begin at 11:45 a.m. with the men's shot put.